Waterloo
by rockhotch31
Summary: This is a total team heavy case fic which includes my OMC Matt Taylor. Even if you don't know him, this is a very stand alone piece.
1. Prologue

Prologue

The BAU team, with local law enforcement in back-up, had chased their unsub through three blocks of city streets. This unsub had brutally raped and killed six women. Working the streets with the locals, and having narrowed down their search area to a six square block area, JJ and Reid had interrupted him abducting his seventh victim. They stayed with her, bleeding from a head wound of the unsub's blitz attack until EMTs could arrive.

Hotch and Matt rolled into the area first, with Rossi and Blake right behind them. Morgan and Emily screeched to a halt less than ten seconds later. "Fan out," Matt said "and stay with your partner."

Rossi and Blake walking cautiously down an alley way, following Bureau procedures to the letter; they were on guard. Rossi looked around and stopped. "Blake," he whispered. He pointed to an ajar door to a warehouse. She nodded and radioed their location.

"I damn nearly missed it," Rossi said quietly, as they waited for the rest of the troops. Hotch and Matt were the first down the alley way with Morgan and Prentiss hot on their heels.

Morgan grabbed the door handle and looked at Matt. "Easy entrance Morgan," he whispered. Morgan nodded and gently pulled the door open. Matt went in first and had a bullet wing by his head. Morgan dived in behind him to Matt's right. The looked at each other on the floor and nodded their _I'm OK_.

Matt put his wrist mike, attached to his dress shirt cuff to his mouth. "He's got high ground that he can see us," he advised, whispering. "Morgan, work your way around to your right; stay low but give him a hint where you are, drawing him out so I can see where the hell he is." Morgan nodded at him and set out. Matt continued. "Hotch, Rossi, when you hear me unloading my clip, get in the door and stay low. I'll be moving to my left, away from Morgan. Hotch left to cover me; Rossi right to cover Morgan. Prentiss, Blake; stand by." They all pinged their acceptance.

Morgan shook the right box for the unsub to see and he rose up, firing a hail of bullets. Matt quickly rose up, spotted him, and unloaded his clip. Hotch and Dave made their move. Emily held the door open with her leg, her gun drawn and looked at Blake. "It's us next." Blake nodded.

"Morgan," Matt asked.

"I'm good; you got him Cob?"

Matt listened to hear if another clip dropped on the ground that wasn't his. His Glock was already reloaded. "I did; but I think he's on the move," he whispered. "Prentiss, you and Blake get in, coming in low and see if that gets a response." Prentiss nodded at Blake, who dove in to the right; Emily followed to the left. There was no response from the unsub.

"Shit," Matt said. "We need another diversion to get him to pop his head up." Before Prentiss could stop her, Blake made a move up the middle of the situation. In doing so, she bumped her earpiece out of her ear, losing contact with the team.

"Cob; it's Prentiss; Blake is making a forward move through the middle."

"Copy that," he answered as he and Hotch teamed up. "Blake, stand down." He listened. He repeated the order. There was no response. Matt looked at Hotch. "Shit; now we've got to goddamn improvise." Hotch shook his head. "Dave, you with Morgan," Matt said into his cuff.

"Roger," Rossi said.

"Rattle around something to get his attention so Morgan can move up."

"Roger Cob." Less than five seconds later, Dave rattled the right crate and the unsub unleashed another round.

"I've got him Matt," Hotch advised. "He's moving towards Blake."

"Shit; Morgan get ready to move hard and fast to the center. I'm coming the other direction. Rossi, Hotch; you're our eagle eyes; put a goddam bullet in his brain. Prentiss, do recon as much as you can and send us intel."

They all pinged their acceptance of the plan. As the plan came into action, the unsub laughed manically. "Hello Agent," he smiled at Blake, holding his .357 at her head twenty feet away. "Hey Agents," he yelled. "I've got your one of your bitches dead to right in my gun sight. What the fuck are you going to do now," he asked, laughing again.

"Cob," Morgan said. "I've got him."

Matt looked across the warehouse with a clear view of Morgan. "I've got Blake. We just need a diversion."

"Cob," Prentiss said, "that's me. I'm left center so you and Hotch and can make your play from the side. Just give me a count to put down covering fire."

Hotch looked at Rossi. "Rossi, it's you and I taking the unsub out."

"With pleasure Hotch," Rossi radioed back.

"Cob, you make the move," Morgan said in his intercom. "I've got the bastard."

"Understood Morgan," Hotch said.

"Roger Morgan," Dave added.

"Now Prentiss." Prentiss laid do covering fire. Matt made the hard move to get Blake, flying into the exposed open area she was standing in. The unsub rose up and Morgan planted the first bullet in his brain and Rossi quickly added a second.

"We clear?" Hotch said, running up to cover Cob and Blake.

"Yeah Hotch, we're clear," Rossi said. "He isn't thinking anymore."

Hotch looked down at the man that was ordered to cover his team. He was sprawled on top of Blake. Cob rolled off the top of her as Morgan reached them first, pulling Blake up off the floor. "Good thing I'm wearing Kevlar," she smiled, "or I'd have a broken rib or two." Morgan just looked at her, pulling her away from the scene.

Rossi went to make sure the unsub was down as Prentiss hurried to the scene. Matt laid on his back for a second. Hotch looked at him. "You OK?"

As Prentiss arrived, Matt held out his hand to Hotch. "Just help me get off the goddamn floor." Unknown to Matt, his mike was pinged open. JJ and Reid, arriving on the scene, heard, like all the rest, the bite in his voice. JJ and Reid looked at each other.

Blake walked out of the warehouse ahead of Morgan. "You OK," JJ asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she smiled.

Morgan blew by her, muttering under his breath. "No you are not."

Blake looked at Reid. "You are in deep trouble Alex."

The team went to the police headquarters and finished what they had to. Hotch looked at Matt. "We flying tonight or tomorrow morning?"

Matt was about to answer when his cell pinged with a text. He pulled it out of his pocket, smiling at Hotch. "Tonight; Chuck and Angie have a flight plan cleared." They all silently packed up.

Alex Blake's stomach churned as she sent a text to James. _On our way home_, she sent. _I think I screwed up_.

The BAU team did the usual good-byes with the locals, loaded up their SUVs and headed towards the airport. As they started to board, with their personal luggage getting loaded, their cells all pinged with a message.

_No one goes home tonight until your tactical reports are done. Hotch _The team all groaned.

Blake looked at Morgan who just shook his head. She sent a new text to James. _Now I know I have_.

The flight home was extremely quiet, which was unusual. As they reached cruising altitude, Matt sprawled out in the center aisle, lying flat on his back. Hotch looked at him. "First thing tomorrow morning, you see the Bureau doc or don't bother coming in the door because I'll chase your ass right back out."

Matt, lying on the floor looked at him. "Way ahead of you Hotch." Blake sitting in the four top with Morgan, Reid and JJ, looked at them. She didn't get much of a response. Rossi, sitting in the two top at the front with Prentiss, smiled wickedly at her. Emily smiled, knowing what was coming and just shook her head.

-00CM00-

Matt walked into the BAU at 9:20; not his usual 8:00 am with the twins being out of school for the summer. He went up the steps, gimping a bit, which the team noticed, including Morgan, who was doing some back work with Emily on their profile for reports.

He leaned his muscular frame into Hotch's open door way. "You get the email yet," he asked.

"No; tell me the truth."

"Aaron, I always tell you the truth," he said, his Irish temper showing. Hotch knew immediately that his partner was going on little sleep.

"Matt, no I haven't received the official memo yet from the BAU doc. Tell me," he said.

"I screwed up my hip flexor. The doc said it will hurt like a banche and gave me some exercises that will help. Until it clears up, I'm completely cleared for field duty. The doc said 'you only have to put up with pain; the injury won't get worse'. I've dealt with pain before Hotch."

Hotch looked at him. "I haven't got the official email."

"Aaron, you will; I'm hurting but I don't lie to you."

Aaron Hotchner smiled. "I know you don't," he said as his email pinged. He eyed it quickly, with a smile at Matt. "It's the doc."

Matt smiled. "She'll tell you the same thing I just did."

"I don't doubt that; what about the other situation?"

Matt looked at Hotch. "I want Blake in my office at 10 am and advise her to not be late." Hotch looked at him. "Aaron; trust me; I know how to handle our team." Hotch nodded with a smile, turning to his laptop to send the message to Alex.

Blake looked at the email that pinged on her laptop. _Agent Blake; you have a 10 am appointment with Agent Taylor. I would highly advice you to not be late. Hotch._

Blake, knowing she was in the Irishmen's doghouse, looked at Reid. She had got to know Emily and JJ and had a deep respect for them. Yet, she was still not part of that complete sisterhood that the two agents and Garcia shared. She turned to the one person she truly knew.

"Do they make Kevlar for your butt?"

"No, they don't," Reid said, completely missing the humor in the question to diffuse her nervousness.

Three minutes to ten, Blake walked up the steps and knocked on Matt's door. "You wanted to see me?"

"Come in Agent Blake; please shut the door." Blake shut the door and sat in one of the chairs in front of Matt's desk he waved at, still looking at the files on his desk.

Matt got out of his chair and walked to the front of his desk and leaned against it.

"Alex, I know you are new to the team. However, that is the key word: team. We cover each other and don't needlessly put each other at risk," he gently said. "We back who we are partnered with. By Agent Prentiss' report, you left your partner exposed, without telling her. You moved into a fluid tactical scene without letting anyone know or getting approval to make the move. I don't need to tell you about the type of people we deal with." Alex shook her head. "Because of them, we have to hyper vigilant with each other, especially in that kind of situation."

"Agent Taylor, I saw an opening and I took it. The rest, as you pointed out, was a mistake. It won't happen again."

Matt smiled. "That's what I needed to hear."

"How's your hip?"

"It's a flexor problem. Sitting is not fun. I'll get over it," he smiled. "Hotch is waiting on your reports."

Alex got up from her chair. "Got it." She walked to the door and opened it as Matt circled around to his chair.

"And Alex, if you lose your earpiece, you stop and put it back in if possible. Communication is the key of not killing each other. I really don't need that pain in the ass paperwork," he added.

"Got it," Alex smiled.

Reid looked at her as she walked to her desk behind his. He smiled. "The Irishman's doghouse isn't as bad as it sounds, is it?"

###


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: Did I get your attention? :D**

**This story is from a suggestion I received from my Spanish Sparkplug, aka Kitten0409. She wanted a Matt Taylor story that was also a deep case fic as well. I wanted to do a Matt story next so I thought WTH. I will admit this has pushed my buttons a bit. I'm still not comfortable with the all the unsub mumbo jumbo the team uses. However, I took that as a challenge to deepen my writing skills. Hears a certain voice in my head; **_**use the force Rockie**_**. :D**

**And that voice has also pushed me to expand my horizons with things I'm not comfortable with. "It's the only way you'll grow as a writer." I took those words to heart and started pounding away on this after a weekend trip to Milwaukee for baseball games inspired a story thought. No, baseball will not be part of this.**

**As always, this is a completely written FF. You will get a chapter a day if the FF gremlins stay in their hiding spots.**

**All the CM characters are the rights of Mark Gordon Productions, CBS and ABC Studios. Matt Taylor is mine. I'm just "chuffed", as a dear British friend says, that all of you have accepted him so much.**

***Knightly bow***

Chapter 1

Two days later, Matt knocked on Hotch's open door, carrying his coffee cup and didn't bother waiting for a reply. Hotch looked up from his desk. "How are you," Hotch asked, taking a sip from his own mug. They all had just started their morning. Matt stood in front of him with the new case file in his hand.

"My hip is barking, it's a pain in the ass, or I should say hip to sit and I'm getting a helluva headache." He waved the file. "Have you read what we're walking into as far as jurisdictions?"

"No, I haven't."

"Two PD's in the unsub's kill zone and the crossroads of four counties, three of which were where the victims lived. How much you wanna bet they've got a task force going?"

"No bet; I'll take care of that."

"And logistics isn't any easier." Hotch looked at him. "The closest airport that can handle the jet is nearly an hour away. The local field office there has two SUVs. We need three. I've contacted the next biggest field office but not getting anywhere."

"Three?"

"Small town area Hotch; state ME's do the autopsies. Same city we're flying into."

"You're on that?"

"Yes Hotch, but like I said, I'm getting resistance."

Hotch picked up the phone. "That will end soon," he said, pushing a speed dial button. "Which office?"

"Chicago," Matt answered.

"BAU SAC Hotchner to speak to Associate Director Goldmeyer please. It's concerning a case we've received," he said in the phone.

Matt raised his eyebrows. "You're reporting to Goldie?" He knew Hotch was on hold. Hotch looked at Matt for a second. His knowledge of the Bureau's higher ups was more vast than he knew.

Hotch nodded. "Until they find a replacement for Chief Strauss." Hotch made a quick report and then listened. "Thank you sir. We appreciate your support." He looked at Matt. "Done; anything else?"

"Garcia is still working on the team briefing. Chuck and Angie are handling their end; I'm just waiting for an update that they're good to go. Brian is already in our go room and organizing the usual suspects to get us to the airport."

"Let me know when Garcia is ready."

"Yes sir," Matt said, leaving Hotch's office. Aaron smiled at the shout out his partner gave him. Matt walked by Rossi's open door on his way to his office.

"Hey Matt," he said. Matt stuck his head in the open door. "I'm guessing we have a new one?"

"Yup, and it ain't fun." Dave looked at him. "How do you say pain in the ass Dave?"

Dave smiled from his chair. "The same way as you Matt." Dave got the Cob point as he moved out of the doorway to his office.

Matt walked in his office to his desk phone ringing. "Agent Taylor," he answered.

"Hey Cob; it's Chuck. Our flight plan has been cleared. Angie and I ready."

"Thanks Chuck. We're waiting on Garcia to get the team brief ready. We should be there in less than two hours; Brian is already working."

"We'll be waiting for him Cob."

"Thanks Chuck."

###

**A/N: heeheehee. Y'all didn't think I could write a short chapter. Guess again! And guess what you'll probably get the rest of the way. I just hate breaking up the flow of chapters. There's never a really good spot.**

**Thanks for all the first reviews!**


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: I had to change the titles of the chapters to match mine I developed in Word. So if you were looking for Chapter 3, don't freak out. You've got the right one. Thank you again for the reviews and all of the alerts!**

Chapter 2

Garcia punched the button on her phone for the inter-office call, knowing who it was. She smiled. _I get to play_. "Duchess of getting things done," she answered.

"This is the Duke; where are we Garcia?"

"I just got off the phone with the locals Matt. They already have one centralized location where they are working the case. They promised they'll be ready for all of you. I'm finalizing the presentation for the team as we speak."

"Shoot me a time Wild Thing; we've got to let the team know. And I've got Brian and the flight crew waiting as well."

Garcia glanced at her watch. "Nine thirty sir."

"You rock Garcia."

She smiled. "You roll Cob."

Matt pulled up his email and fired a message to Aaron, adding Brian and Chuck to the CC list while looking over the preliminary files. _Team brief 9:30_.

He pored over the files more. His laptop pinged of a new message. _We've got a new case. Team briefing at 9:30. Hotch_

When the appointed time approached, Matt looked out his window, standing with his hip giving him hell as he watched the four in the bullpen move to fill their coffees and enter the Round Table room. His desk phone rang as Hotch and Dave started to pass by his window. They both stopped to wait for him. The call lasted less than a minute and both of the senior profilers noticed it wasn't exactly kind.

"Matt," Aaron asked as he joined the two of them.

"The SAC of the Chicago field office."

"And….."

"You didn't need to go over my head, Agent Taylor."

Dave smiled. "And your response?"

"Then get your staff on board backing the BAU. We're getting fed up with the local interference we've been getting."

"That should score us some brownie points," Hotch said looking at him.

"And maybe Hotch, the word will get around to the field offices that's what happens when you don't work with us."

"I'm on Matt's side with this one Aaron," Dave smiled.

Hotch shook his head, following the other two in. The rest of the team, as usual, was engaged in their light _before we get a case_ banter. "Let's get started." Hotch and Rossi sat down. Matt stood behind them. Matt's cell pinged in his pocket of a text. He pulled it out and read the message.

Garcia picked up the remote, and like always pointed it over her shoulder so she would not see the images, and started the briefing. "You my crime fighters are heading to the Waterpark Capital of the World; specifically the Wisconsin Dells/Lake Delton area of central Wisconsin."

Dave looked at Matt. "Your semi-home state; you ever been there?"

"Yeah; I was five; Mac was 13; biggest family trip we took. From what I've seen, I wouldn't recognize the place. We just rode the ducks and enjoyed the motel outdoor pool."

Garcia nodded. "Anyway my valiant team, in the last six days, four people have been killed and dumped on the properties of the waterparks." She pulled up the first pic. "Maria Sanchez, 38, was strangled with a wire. She was found alongside a dumpster at the Fitzger Resort in Wisconsin Dells." She pulled up the second. "Jason Gertz was killed the same way and dumped at the Palmer Resort and in the same location, also in Wisconsin Dells."

Matt looked up from his iPad. "When our family was there, we stayed at the Palmer Motel." Garcia pulled up a pic of the hotel. "That's it; except, of course, back then it just had an outdoor pool about the size of ours at home."

"So it has history," Dave noted. Matt nodded.

"Different victim types," Alex noted. "Our unsub is not focused on a specific type or ethnicity; rules out a sexually based predator."

Garcia continued. "Our third victim is Anne-Marie Carlson, obviously killed the same way. She was found alongside the dumpsters of the European." She flashed the picture on the screen. They all looked. "And the fourth is Hector Lupe; same cause of death. He was found in a hallway of the Bates Hotel at the back end of the property." The team all looked at her. "It's a theme park area by my snooping," she shrugged. "TOD's by the Wisconsin State ME says all four victims were dead less than 24 hours before their bodies were dumped. And oh my pretties, the last two dump sites were in Lake Delton."

"Garcia," Reid intoned. "Can you give us a lay out of a map where the four victims were found?" Garcia hit another button on her remote and the map showed up.

"He's making a progression," JJ profiled.

"A big one," Emily added.

"Shit," Matt said.

"Cob?" Derek responded.

"I've did my research. The 'Dells' as it's called, started out in the city of Wisconsin Dells. It's off I-94 by at least eight miles on US 12. The now major resorts are in Lake Delton; right next to the freeway." He pointed to Garcia's map. "Garcia, can you add into the map the recently built big brand new Taj Mahal properties." She glided to her laptop and added them. The path route was unmistakable. The unsub was slowly working his way to the bigger properties by the freeway.

"Shit Cob," Derek said. "This unsub is on a mission; and heading for the bigs." Reid nodded his head as Morgan got the Cob finger point.

Hotch looked around the table. "Wheels up in thirty."

"Be safe my loves," Garcia said as they left the room.

Hotch, rising out of his chair caught up to Matt. "You sure you're OK?"

"You got the doc's report." Hotch burrowed a look into his eye. "And that report said I had to deal with the pain until it settles down."

"Matt, I know you can do your job. Yet, it's very obvious that you uncomfortable."

Matt stopped in front of his office door. "Aaron," he said pointing to where his upper leg joined his hip, "when I sit too long, it's like I've got a knife blade in there. If I don't sit, I don't have any pain."

"The doc didn't think it was a groin injury?" Dave joined the two to listen in on their conversation.

"That was my first thought as well Aaron, but no. It's too high up into my hip area for that. She doubled checked it all, given my history with that hip."

"Just let me know if you need a break, OK?"

Matt rubbed his shoulder. "Promise."

He and Dave continued to walk to their offices, as Matt entered his. "I know Aaron," Dave smiled, reaching his office door and rubbing his shoulder as well. "He's mine; I'll watch him like a hawk and let you now."

"Thanks Dave," Aaron smiled. Dave entered into his office and gathered up his laptop to put in his briefcase along with his iPad and case files. In the other two offices, the agents of the BAU were doing the same.

Matt came down the steps from his office and looked at the four team members that were doing the same thing. "See you all in the go room," he smiled, heading for the glass doors of the BAU and the elevator.

When he got to the basement level, he took his Bureau ID off his suit coat and ran it through the security lock-out to the BAU go room. Learning the hard way, Matt had started to dress like Dave Rossi. Dress shirt, with suit jacket, but wearing jeans. While he could afford it, but after losing six pairs of suit pants in doing his job, his mantra was like Dave's: _the hell with it_. Brian had all of their go bags out and ready. "Your batteries are getting low in you flashlight."

Each agent of the BAU had a locker. Yet it was much more than that. Their locker was actually a three foot deep to the wall, by six feet high, that was four feet wide. Brian, by a key had access to the first part of their "lockers". An extra inside door, with a combination lock, stored each agent's personal luggage for a trip. Clothing, toilet kits, et al. It was up to each agent to take care of that for the next trip. It was a silent, yet shared joke around the area as to how many suits, ties and dress shirts Aaron Hotch actually owned. Garcia, who rarely traveled with team, had hers as well.

"I noticed that when we were out the last time B; thanks for the reminder," he smiled. He went to the equipment locker, with the security code that Brian had opened and replaced the batteries. While he was there, he checked the loads on his ammunition clips for his two weapons. Matt carried two 15 round spares for his Glock on his shoulder holster. His leg weapon had only the one nine round clip. Since he hadn't used that on the last case, he knew it was good. However, one back up clip was short two bullets. He quickly loaded the clip and put his weapons in his go bag, smiling at Brian. Brian took it and set it by the door as Dave and Morgan walked up to the supply cabinet as well.

They did their reloads as well, along with new batteries. Hotch was right behind them, fueling up batteries, tossing the old ones into the trash. The ladies, as usual, were next, getting their usual ration of garbage from Matt and Dave about waiting on women. Reid, as always, was the last to arrive.

He walked to his go bag, checked his flashlight and put it back in his go bag. He added his weapon as the rest of the team put their personal bags by the door for Brian's team.

"Pret-ty boy," Morgan teased. "You ready to rock and roll?"

###

**A/N: The Dells "Ducks" are vehicles that were used in WWII, especially in the Pacific Theatre. They can travel both by land and water. That is useful in the Dells area for seeing the natural beauty. In that part of my home state, the Wisconsin River flows through a series of beautiful rock formations, looming high from the river. That was the first attraction to the Dells that started the tourist industry there.**


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Less than an hour later, Chuck and Angie had the group winging northwest to their next case. The minute they said the seatbelts could come off, Matt was up. He went to the galley, found the team's stash of the extra-large ibuprofen bottle and shook out three pills to take. He grabbed a small water bottle from the fridge and washed them down. Blake, going for her usual re-fill of coffee, looked at him. "You OK?"

"This case is a huge headache." She looked at him with a question. "We'll fill you in as we fly." They both moved back into the cabin.

They continued discussing the case with Hotch and Matt leaning against the counter with Dave standing behind the four-top of seats holding the three ladies and Reid. Morgan was standing next to Alex's seat. Once they reached cruising altitude, Garcia appeared on the laptop on the table and the screens at each end of the plane.

"Garcia," Hotch questioned. "Is there any connection between the victims?"

"None that I have found yet sir, but I've only started my snooping."

Dave was looking over the ME's reports. "They all had blunt force trauma to the head."

"Sounds like a blitz attack," JJ said.

"PG, we're the victims killed before the dump job?"

Dave looked at Emily. "ME's report confirms that."

"Any evidence," Reid asked.

Dave shook his head. After how many years of doing this, he could blaze through a coroner's report almost as fast as Reid reading every word. Hotch and Matt looked at each other with a small smile. _Bells and whistles_ Dave told Hotch the first case he rejoined the team. _And I know the bells and whistles_. "None; no hair, no fibers, no DNA, no nothing."

"Our unsub is male to overpower these victims," Reid said. "And he is meticulous, leaving no evidence behind."

"Which speaks to an organized unsub," Blake added.

Morgan pointed at her and added, "Which means our guy is intelligent. He knows what he is doing."

"And with the progression he's making through the properties, it's almost like he's a mission based killer," JJ added. Dave smiled at his protégé, already rapidly developing into a well-honed profiler.

Matt pointed to her. "There may be more to that than we know right now. It'll be interesting once Garcia has been able to work her magic and dig up some more info on them." Hotch nodded his head in agreement.

Alex looked at Matt. "The headache?" Morgan looked at Matt with a question.

Matt looked into the laptop. "Garcia, can you pull up a geographic map of the area, starting out with a 75 mile radius."

"Give me a few Cob." The team could hear her typing away. "Waala, my assistant liege." The map came up on the screens.

"Now cut off the top 45 percent. We don't need it." Garcia hammered away more and a new map re-appeared. "First off, we're flying into Madison; they have the closest airport that can handle the jet. The Dells area is about 45-50 minutes up I-94," he said, pointing at the laptop.

"Here's the fun part for Hotch and me. Like we profiled, the LEO's involved have figured out that their victims were not killed at the dump site. Garcia, now redefine that map focusing in specifically on Wisconsin Dells and Lake Delton, giving us about a 15 mile radius." The map appeared. "Now add in the home addresses of the victims." That pinged up less than 15 seconds later.

"Look closely at the map. The city of Wisconsin Dells sits exactly on the corner of four counties; Columbia, Sauk, Adams and Juneau. Three of our four victims lived in each of those different counties. And folks, I don't have to remind you, we're talking about small town USA. Everyone knows everyone."

Morgan rolled his eyes. "The sheriff departments in those three counties will want in on the investigation." Hotch nodded.

Matt continued. "Garcia, now narrow the map down to just the two cities." Garcia worked her magic. "As the area grew along what is now known as the Wisconsin Dells Parkway, Lake Delton annexed that area between the two cities into their city property. They took the Sheriff Departments out of the picture, which was a smart move, considering how many tourists they deal with on an annual basis."

Dave looked at Hotch and Matt. "We're going to be walking into a taskforce aren't we?"

Hotch nodded. "That's on me. We have to work with the two local PD's but I'll get the SD deputies chased."

Morgan nudged Alex's arm. "How many Advil did he take," he asked, pointing at Matt.

"Three," she responded.

Morgan looked at Matt. "Cob, I'd have taken a handful." Matt smiled at his back-up.

JJ looked up from her iPad. "Just how many tourists are we talking about annually?"

Matt shook his head. "Over five million annually." Prentiss whistled at the fact.

"Which is really astounding given the fact that the average temps in the winter in Wisconsin…..." Reid started.

They all looked at him. Matt smiled. "That's why Doc, the big resorts have 'indoor' water parks, he said gesturing with his fingers like quotes. "They draw guests from all over the region year round. The Minneapolis/St. Paul area is a five hour drive to the Dells; a little under four from Chicago." He looked at JJ. "You and Will live in one of those two cities; you're sick of winter and can't afford Florida or Arizona on spring break with your school age kids and you just want a weekend away. Where'd you go?"

"Boom Cob," she smiled, mimicking his finger point and his usual verbiage of hitting the target. The team all smiled.

"One other thing: between the two cities, the population is a little under 6,000 people. Yet, because of the tourists, they have larger than normal police staffing. Yet, with that small of a population, the unsub is going to know we are there."

"Which means he'll either go into hiding, or get bolder," Dave noted. They all nodded their head in agreement.

Hotch looked at his team. "When we land, JJ and Reid go to the state ME's office in Madison. The latest victim is still there. Find out what you can. You can meet up with us later in Lake Delton at the local PD. The rest of us will head straight there." They all nodded again.

Just then Angie came over the intercom. "Sorry folks, we're about to hit some bumpy weather. Please get buckled in."

Emily quickly got out of hers to sit with Morgan in the two top of seats at the front of the plane he took for takeoff. Matt looked at Hotch and just shook his head as the four standing moved to their seats.

-00CM-

The team was buckled in the rest of the trip. Matt, on the couch across from Dave and Aaron, had tried to stretch out his right leg as much as he could to make himself more comfortable. Dave looked at Hotch, knowing that he was not accomplishing that goal.

Just as Chuck and Angie got the jet out of the rough air, they started their descent for landing. Matt was able to get up and walk around for a couple of minutes to give his hip some relief. Fifteen minutes later, Chuck pulled the Gulf Stream to a halt on the tarmac of Dane County Regional Airport in Madison. As was the custom, Matt, after acknowledging Chuck and Angie, got off the jet first to meet up with the agents from the Chicago office to get their vehicles. He noticed them moving up to the jet as he reached the bottom step. Following the direction of ground personnel, they pulled the black SUVs up a bit away from the jet for safety.

Matt walked to the three vehicles. A fourth, to take the agents driving the first three waited a bit further back. The agent got out and put his hand out. "SSA Taylor," he asked. Matt nodded with a smile. "I'm Agent Laurie from the Chicago office."

"Pleasure to meet you Agent Laurie," Matt said shaking his hand. "We appreciate you bringing us the vehicles."

"Not a problem sir; just sign here." Matt signed his name in the usual FBI paperwork place. Laurie had him a business card. "Please just give me a four to six hour heads up when you want to return the vehicles. Chicago traffic can be brutal to get out of the city."

Matt smiled. "I grew up there for a while and we take in account the drive times when we return borrowed vehicles from the field offices."

Laurie smiled. "Sounds great; good luck on the case sir."

"Thank you Agent, have a safe trip back." The whole team grabbed their weapons from their go bags before loading them into the back. Matt turned to help the ground personnel so that JJ and Reid would have their personal luggage as well as their go bags in their vehicle. It was around three in the afternoon local time and one of Matt's many mottos was _just in case_. JJ smiled at him as he shut the back hatch and she climbed into the driver's side. Reid slid into the passenger seat and they took off.

Matt walked up to the first SUV, pleasantly talking about the area weather with one of the ground personnel. "We ran into a storm front on our way from Quantico; figured that's why you've got great weather," he smiled. The man looked at him. "I grew up in Wisconsin in my teen years."

The guy smiled. "Go Pack Go!" Matt smiled broadly and shook his hand as he moved off to the next corporate jet coming into the area. Hotch looked at Matt and they climbed into the SUV as the others were already in.

Matt looked at him. "What time are we supposed to meet the locals?"

"Four-thirty." Matt looked at his watch and smiled. "Piece of cake SAC Hotchner; relax."

###

**A/N: Amazing what a drive on I-94 can conger up for story ideas. ;)**

**SD is Sheriff's Department. Go Pack Go is a term every person in Wisconsin recognizes. It is the cheer for our NFL football (American) team in the state: the Green Bay Packers.**

**Annexing property is a city formally expanding the area of the city. There can be many reasons why. My mention here of this area and annexation is purely fictional for the purpose of my story.**


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Matt expertly lead Morgan driving the second SUV onto I-94 and the team began the northwest journey out of Wisconsin's state capital city to the area they were needed in. Along the way, Matt looked at the crops growing in the summer sun.

Dave, in the backseat, watching him in the rear view mirror said, "What say ye, old wise former farmer?" The team didn't need the old two way radio any more to communicate with each other. Prentiss had called Dave on his iPhone. She, Morgan and Blake listened in on their conversation with Dave having his on speaker as well.

Matt smiled. "If they keep getting enough rain, they'll have a bumper crop." He pointed to an alfalfa field along the freeway that the owner was cutting. The alfalfa would soon be baled and stored to feed the cattle in the winter. "That's got to be a second crop he's cutting by the length of it. And it's thick," he smiled.

Dave smiled. "Good memories Matt?"

"Hell no Dave; I told you about baling hay; we did it the old fashion way, remember?" Dave nodded. "However, with the new equipment they have, it's an easier job and I want farmers to keep the land up and make a living doing it." The three of them watched as the machinery rolled out another perfect large, round bale."

"Cob, what do they do with them after that," Morgan asked.

"If they're smart, they get it undercover using a tractor with a forklift on the front and a counter balance on the back. If they keep that round bales under protection, high and dry, and they can feed their cattle all winter long." As they progressed down the freeway, Matt pointed to another field. The round bales were stacked along a fence row, fully exposed to the elements. Matt shook his head. "When they need it, they have a helluva time getting to it with the ice and snow. And the top ten percent of it will be waste. That's not how you handle a profit margin on a family farm."

Dave looked at Matt and Hotch through the rear view mirror in the back seat. "I've taught you boys well," he smugly smiled. Matt and Aaron shared a smile and just shook their heads. They all did some sightseeing along the way, with Matt answering some questions, especially from Prentiss and Blake, the two big city girls.

Forty minutes later, the freeway indicated the big blue sign of an exit to a rest stop. Matt notified Morgan through Dave who still had his phone on. "We're heading in."

"Cob?"

"Morgan, please follow me in."

As the two FBI vehicles pulled to the curb, Hotch looked at Matt. Matt looked back. "You told me if I need to take a break, do it. I do. Besides, I don't think I'm the only one."

Dave getting out, taking his suit jacket off and putting it into his seat, said, "He's right Hotch; remember we all had a rough ride. No time for the head." Matt and Hotch exited as well.

Matt pointed at Blake sprinting up the sidewalk to Hotch. He looked at Morgan and Emily, getting out as well to stretch their legs. "How much coffee does she drink?"

"Too much," they answered in unison. Matt took his time getting his hip stretched out, and then like Dave, taking his suit coat off as well, putting it into the SUV, walked up the sidewalk.

Morgan laughed, leaning against the front of the SUV he was driving, looking at Hotch and Emily. "Those two have to be making a helluva an impression in the little boy's room with their weapons." He thought for a second and beat Emily to the punch. "The Bureau approved ones," he added. Emily pointed at him, smiling broadly. Hotch just simply shook his head. However, the two of them, that knew him, saw a hint of a smile. _Damn Matt is rubbing off on him _they both thought.

Dave came out first. Hotch looked at him. "Feel better?"

"Much; and you will too when you get my age," he mischievously smiled. "And sooner than you think because you drink just about much coffee as Blake." Nearly on cue, but certainly not planned, Blake started to walk out of the first inside door of the very new and modern rest stop. By the time she reached the second, Matt was reaching over her head to hold the door open for her.

Dave smiled at Hotch. "That's our boy." Emily and Morgan shared a laugh as they all climbed back into the vehicles after Matt put his suit coat around his seat and Dave put his on the other side of the back seat. While the air was beginning to cool, it still held some of the humidity the region had been feeling. A northwest wind on the backside of the storm front was slowly chasing the humidity away.

As Matt pulled the SUV from the curb, he looked at Hotch. "You'd rather have your senior profilers walk into the room and say 'Hey, hello, lovely to meet you; where's the bathroom?"

Dave laughed heartily in the back seat and hooked back up with Emily. "Prentiss, do you have  
Garcia?"

"Hang on Rossi; I'm connecting." Emily paused for second then saw the green light on her iPhone.

"Em, my luvs, nothing yet; but my binary systems are working overtime."

"Keep us in the loop baby girl," Morgan said. Emily put her phone on pause to block Garcia out of the conversation.

Blake looked at her two fellow agents in the front seat, shaking her head at a memory. "She really said that to Strauss."

Morgan smiled his bright smile. "Yes mama did."

"Alex, at the time, I could have kissed her if it was allowed in Bureau protocol," Matt added with a laugh.

They all laughed again at the now shared memory while reminiscing a bit about their former colleague as Matt and Morgan drove them northwest on the interstate. Matt looked in the rear view mirror at Dave.

"I'm fine Matt; narrate about the farms and drive."

-00CM-

JJ and Reid met with the chief state crime lab Medical Examiner. "Hello Doctor; I'm Agent Jareau. This is Dr. Reid. We appreciate you staying late to meet with us." The Doctor shook her extended hand and put his out to Reid. He just did his usual wave. "What can you tell us?"

"All four victims died from affixation by wire. All the wounds were consistent with the same gauge of wire," he said pulling the sheet back on the last victim. JJ and Reid studied it closely.

"And the blitz attack Doctor," Reid asked.

"Blunt force trauma to the back of the head; it was enough to rendered the victims possibly unconscious or more than likely, temporarily daze them. And the wound patterns with the head trauma all match perfectly as well. The blow was done by a cylindrical object. It was heavy enough to do the job the perpetrator wanted yet not heavy enough to break the skull. I noted only slight bruising around each area."

"Meaning," JJ asked.

"It's like a blow to the head that knocks you silly. Most us can get those in our home or doing something, made by a hard object: wood or metal. All the wounds seem like, well, I really don't know how to describe it; like the object was somehow padded. In addition, the blows are all in the same spot." He pointed to one of the X-rays on the wall. "It almost speaks to a medical background; you get hit there, with that kind of an object, it'll probably just make you very woozy." JJ looked at Reid. That was a significant clue.

"How much of a medical background," JJ asked.

"An advanced anatomy class at minimum." JJ added that to her notes.

"And toxicology results." Reid asked, looking for more clues. The ME went to his computer.

"Maria Sanchez was clean; nothing out of the ordinary. Jason Gertz had a BAC of .08; however I heard from the investigating officers that the last known place he was seen at was a bar. Toxic results support that. Victims Carlson and Lupe both showed only with prescribed meds in their systems, which I verified through their personal physicians."

"Anything else you can tell us Doctor?" JJ said.

He shrugged his shoulders. "Agents, I understand the job you do. I wish I could give you more but that's all I have."

Reid looked at him with a smile. "Thank you Doctor; you have helped with our preliminary profile." JJ shook hands with him again and the two left to join up with the rest of the team.

-00CM00—

As they made their way up the freeway, all the agents began seeing the signs along the road, advertising the different attractions in the area of the Dells. "Cob," Emily asked, "it's really this big." They advertised different attractions in the area, such as magician's show.

"Yup," he answered. They passed a sign advertising the Tommy Bartlett Water Show. "And that my friends is the stalwart around here; has been for years. Even when my family was here, you couldn't call a trip to the Dells complete without seeing that."

Two miles later, Matt took the exit onto the Dells Parkway to head to the Lake Delton PD. Two of the mega huge water resorts were there, along with a very large stripe mall holding on outlet center of major brand names; Nike, KidsRUs, and Gap to name a few. Emily turned in her seat to smile at Blake. "We could only wish Emily," she smiled.

As Morgan shook his head, Emily said, "JJ could go nuts in that place." Blake smiled largely, agreeing with Emily's assessment.

In the other vehicle, Matt was getting a "holy shit" from Dave, looking at the two mega hotel/waterpark properties: the White Wolf Lodge and the Tahitian Tropical. "If that's our unsub's final drop zones, we have problems."

Hotch looked as well, shaking his head. "With too many places to drop bodies." Matt headed south away from the mega complexes and pulled into the sleepy little hamlet of Lake Delton. He deftly drove to the front door of the Lake Delton PD. He and Morgan parallel parked the vehicles next to each other and the team members got out; Dave and Matt pulling on their suit coats. A local officer went in the doors of the building as they all gathered on the sidewalk.

Matt looked at Hotch. "They know we're here," he said, slightly shaking his head. "You ready for _your_ headache." Matt nodded around at all the official and LEO cars at the curb and in the parking lot across the street.

"You take the team in and get things set up in the conference room. I'll take care of my headache." Matt and Dave nodded at the plan.

Morgan, Prentiss and Blake looked at each other, not envying what Hotch would soon face.

###

**A/N: When Matt talks about baling hay, he's thinking about the same way I did it on my paternal grandparent's farm. The bales would come out of the machine that would put them in rectangular bales, tied with twine. They each weighed about 40 lbs./18.1 kilos and you would physically load them on to a flat bottomed "wagon" that was attached behind the tractor and baling machine. And when you got back to cow barn, you had to unload them, again by hand, to put them in what was referred to as "the hay mow"; the storage area above where the milk cows were. That's very old school now and not done. Most farmers have machines that produce the round bales weighing nearly 1 ton/807 kilo.**

**I don't know about international freeways (i.e. four land highways) or autobahns, but in the US, every 35 to 70 miles, there is a rest stop. My 80+ YO dad is a creature of habit. We always stop at the usual places on our trip to Milwaukee. That includes the rest stop just south of Baraboo on I-94, 30 miles northwest of Madison. The Dells area is another 20 minutes northwest from there. The original rest stop that we knew in years past has been replaced by an ultra-modern building. And since it is freeway, it is on both sides of the freeway. One each for northwest and southeast bound.**

**Test time to my loyal readers: remember what "the head" means in Marine lingo? To newcomers, I think you can figure it out.**

**Wire gauge is the size of the wire.**

**BAC is blood alcohol content.**

**The names of the mega resorts are fictional. I don't want to deal with copyright or infringement issues, even though this FF. The Tommy Bartlett Water Show is factual and a must see if visiting the Dells.**


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N: Some of the words in this chapter are directly taken from the S4 episode **_**Catching Out**_**. The writer for that episode was Oahn Ly. Why should I re-invent the wheel? It worked the first time.**

Chapter 5

Hotch and Matt started to walk through the door and were greeted by the Chief of the Lake Delton PD. He stuck his hand out to Hotch, immediately knowing by the suit and tie that he was in charge. "Tim Dancer; I'm the Chief here. We can't thank you enough for coming."

Hotch took the extended hand. "Agent Hotchner sir; this is my Assistant Unit Chief, Agent Taylor." Chief Dancer shook Matt's hand as well.

"I've got a conference room all set up just like Agent Garcia asked. It's this way." He led them to the back side of the building to a large conference room that would nicely work for the team. After he opened the door he looked at the rest of team filing their way into the building, carrying their brief cases and go bags and looked at Hotch with a question.

"Chief Dancer, you asked for the FBI's help, specifically the BAU, and it is our opinion you have the biggest case currently in our open, active files. The Bureau sends the best to assist you."

Chief Dancer smiled. "Agent Hotchner, I won't turn down the help. We just really appreciate all of you making the trip."

"However, Chief Dancer, I need to speak to you in your office if you don't mind and as soon as possible. If Chief Grant from the WDPD is here, I would appreciate him joining us."

"Clark is here Agent. We here in Lake Delton have the newer and bigger facility with what you needed like internet access. Clark is still dealing with a building built in the 1950's."

Hotch smiled. "We appreciate you addressing our needs and working together. We know these cases that cross jurisdictional boundaries; things can get territorial."

"No worries there Agent; Clark and I have always had a great working relationship. With what we deal with around here with the tourists, we have to."

"That's music to our ears Chief," Matt said. Dancer smiled at him.

Hotch patted Dancer on the arm. "Give me five minutes to get my things organized."

"My office Agent is right across the way," Dancer said pointing.

"See you then," Hotch nodded.

When Dancer left, Matt looked at Hotch. "Need back-up?" Each of them put their briefcases in the conference room table chairs and the go-bags against the wall.

Hotch shook his head. "I'm sure he'll pull in the all the sheriffs as well; I can handle that. You and Prentiss get us hooked up to Garcia." He looked around at the rest walking in. "You know what to do." Blake was already pulling one of the large white boards into place to start a victimology board. Morgan and Rossi headed back out to the SUVs to get the black boxes carrying their files and more of the equipment.

"Cob," Prentiss said, finding the internet connection, "I've got this; help Morgan and Rossi." Matt took off his suit coat, putting it over the back of one of the chairs and headed out, rolling up his dress shirt sleeves. By default, Matt and Emily had become the "tech nerds" to getting the team hooked up to Garcia.

Matt met Morgan and Rossi at the back of the vehicles. "I need the box with the cabling for the internet to get us hooked up." Morgan pulled it out of his vehicle and handed it to Matt. "Thanks D," he smiled, looking at Rossi. "Don't spring a leak or screw up anything old man," he wickedly smiled.

"Screw you Matt." Matt laughed as two Lake Delton officers came out to join the agents to help them unload.

"Thank you officers," Matt smiled. They smiled back. Dave winked at Morgan and pointed at one of the heaviest black cases for one of the young officers to take into the building. Rossi, pulling it out nodded to the officer to grab it. He smiled and took it in the building.

Morgan grabbed the second and handed it to the other. They both headed inside. Morgan shook his head. "Say it Morgan," Dave demanded.

"I'm not stroking your ego Rossi," he smiled, grabbing another case. Dave just smiled back, patting Morgan on the back, grabbing his own to take in.

As Matt, the local officers, Morgan and Rossi made their way to the conference room Hotch crossed the area to Chief Dancer's office. When he entered he saw just as he predicted. Chief Dancer, Chief Grant and two of the heads of the area Sheriff Departments. Dancer made the introductions. Hotch shook all their hands.

Tim Dancer started in. "Agent Hotchner, our task force is ready…" That was all he got out.

"Chief Dancer, with all due respect to all the agencies involved in this investigation, the last thing we need is a task force." The other men in the room looked at him, completely stunned. "Are all these people involved in this investigation?" Hotch said, pointing at the people in the central area of the building.

"Yes they are Agent," Dancer answered.

"That's too many."

"What?" Dancer answered.

"It's our experience in a task force situation that excessive personnel can be counterproductive. To function effectively, we need a focused headquarters, free from the congestion of auxiliary personnel. And with all due respect Sheriffs, that includes you and your deputies. You can help better by being back in your communities, assigning extra patrols." Hotch looked at the two city PD Chiefs. "Right now, all we need is the two of you and each of your lead investigators on this case. When my team develops the profile, I assure all of you gentleman you all will be part of that presentation. Right now, my team doesn't need the distraction of dealing with this many LEOs."

He looked at the sheriffs. "I and my team know that you have lost members of you communities; people that you know. We do understand that; trust me. However, to assist in solving this case, my team needs what we've requested. I promise all of you, once we've developed our profile, we will give it to all of you. It's then that we will need you. You know these people in your jurisdictions; something will register with your personnel and help us narrow our profile to a specific person of interest. Right now; and with all due deepest respect, we don't need them or the distraction."

Sheriff Mike Daniels of the Sauk County sheriff's department looked Hotch in the eye. "Agent, as you said, we've lost people that we know. We trust you and your team with your reputation. When it comes time, you promise you will bring us back in?"

Hotch nodded. "I promise Sheriff; my team will fully need you and all of your personnel," he said looking around the office, "after we deliver the profile. However, like all of you, my team wants to get this done now. But that doesn't happen in a heartbeat. We need time." He noticed Sheriff John Chambers from Columbia County stiffening a bit. "And yes Sheriff Chambers, that means we may get a body or two more. That's the toughest part of our job; getting more victims to help us develop our profile. We don't like losing people on our watch any more than you. And when we're here, it's our watch as well. I will tell all you this; that's why the Assistant Director of the Bureau signed off on my team being here. We want to get this done as quickly as all of you. And my team is the best."

John Chambers looked at Mike Daniels. "I'm in if you are Mike."

"I'm in John; let's get our folks out of here and let them do their jobs."

Hotch shook their hands. "Thank you Sheriffs; tell your deputies we appreciate their efforts but right now we need them in the field, on patrol, not in an office building." They smiled, nodded and left the office to gather up their personnel.

"Chiefs, if you could gather up your lead investigators, please join us in the conference room so we can make the introductions." They nodded as well. Hotch left the office and headed to the conference room.

He walked in to hear Prentiss say, "PG, you there?" While the room was certainly not as sophisticated technology wise as the New York field office which allowed video conferencing on a large screen, the set up worked.

"I'm here my fine furry friends and I've got news."

"Garcia," Matt said, "hold on for a sec OK?"

"You got it my Irish dancing snake."

Matt just shook his head and looked at Hotch. "How'd it go?"

"Better than I thought. The local players should be joining us in a minute or two."

"Still there Garcia?"

"You bet Cob."

"Give us a few to meet the locals and then you can tell them your news as well."

"Roger that my handsome but married Marine Colonel." Matt rolled his eyes.

Rossi looked at Hotch. "And you send me to Bureau seminars?" They all shared a small laugh as they continued getting the conference room up to speed.

Blake looked at Prentiss. "Cob and Rossi are good like that to keep the tension level down," she whispered as Emily worked on the next board getting the map set up. Emily added a nod with a smile at her.

_I've got a lot to learn about this family_ Blake thought.

###


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N: Thank you for all of the reviews, favorites and following alerts. I appreciate you taking the time to read.**

Chapter 6

Both the Chiefs, and in their official uniforms the team noticed, walked into the conference room, followed by two plain clothed personnel.

Hotch nodded at them. Chief Grant took the lead. "Agent Hotchner, this Lt. Dylan Meier, my lead investigator. And who by the way first suggested that you folks should be called in." Hotch shook hands with the younger man. Both the police chiefs, while seeming to be quite capable running their departments, had the ring of old school boys that had grew up in the area and knew everyone. Meier looked like an up and coming, knowledgeable LEO.

It was Chief Dancer's turn. "This is my lead investigator Lt. Jessica Hardin. She and Dylan compared notes, sat Clark and I down and kicked our butts to call you folks." Hardin had big city street smart background written all over her forehead.

Hotch shook her hand as well. "Pleasure to meet you as well; good call; both of you." Hardin and Meier smiled. Hotch looked around the room. "This is Chief Tim Dancer of the Lake Delton PD and Chief Clark Grant of the Wisconsin Dells PD." He looked at his team. "Chief Dancer you've already met Agent Taylor." Matt nodded at him. "Chief Grant Matt." They shared a hand shake as well. Hotch looked at the newcomers. "Agent Taylor is my number two." Matt shook hands with both of them.

Hotch politely pointed out the rest of the BAU players. "SSA Rossi is our senior profiler; SSAs Morgan, Blake and Prentiss. And…."

"On keyboards," Matt inserted, using Rossi's line. The team all smiled with Hotch showing his a bit. "On our laptops is our Technical Analyst Penelope Garcia."

"Live and in person from Quantico, VA," Dave added, smiling at Matt.

Just then JJ and Reid walked into the conference room. "And this is SSAs Jareau and Dr. Reid." Hotch got the two of them caught up on the names, explaining why they were late joining them.

"All of you," Matt said, "please don't take our bit of humor as taking this case lightly. You've got, hopefully, a onetime deal. We deal with these people every day. A bit a humor keeps us sane."

Meier looked at them. "How in the hell do you deal with that?"

"Scotch," Dave answered. He got the Cobra finger point as well as the Morgan one. JJ and Reid bumped their go bags with the rest of the teams.

"Back on point," Hotch said.

"Garcia," Matt asked. "You've got news?"

"Yes sir; through my digging I've found a link to the four victims. They all are former employees of the water parks in the area." Blake at the white board with the victim's pictures and the crime scene photos took notes under each name with Garcia's information.

JJ and Reid made their report on what they learned from the ME. Prentiss added those details to the other half of the white board from the kill zone map.

Matt looked at the four locals. "We know, like you, the victims weren't killed at their homes. Any luck finding where they were killed?"

Hardin shook her head. Hotch looked at the police chiefs. "That's something the Sheriff's deputies can check on. They need to find out each victims last known location that they were alive, and re-trace their steps; on foot if need to be. We already know our unsub is a blitz attacker. Finding out where he does this might be a key."

"Advise them though, to be thorough," JJ said. "The blow to head, if it bleeds, is minimal. Our unsub knows how to do with minimal damage; just enough to daze them."

Hardin and Meier shook their heads in agreement. The two chiefs were lost. "Unsub?" Grant asked.

"Unknown subject Clark," Meier answered before the team could. It was very obvious to the team that the younger officers knew their stuff while the older officers were from a different generation.

Chief Dancer shook his head but added, "I'll make the phone calls." He looked at Hotch and Matt and then the team. "As you can tell, our young turks are trying to teach us old dogs new tricks."

Chief Grant shook his head. "Tim, sorta makes retirement look better and better, doesn't it?" Chief Dancer nodded his head in approval. "Do you need us anymore tonight?"

Hotch shook his head. "Why don't the four of you go home, relax, spend time with your families and try and get some sleep. You can join us tomorrow morning. We've got some things to discuss; however, at this point, I think it just needs to be us."

Matt smiled. "This is where we spitball ideas off of each other and start developing a preliminary profile. However, let me give all of you a heads up. We're staying at the Comfort Suites in Portage." He immediately noticed the looks. "Yes, we know, its twenty minutes away, and yes, we normally like to stay closer to a case. However, we don't get much sleep when we're out on cases so the last thing we need….."

Jessica Hardin smiled. "Is staying in a hotel with a bunch of kids running the halls all hours of the night and parents getting together in a room for a party."

Hardin got the Cob finger point. "Boom." Matt gave her and Meier one of his business cards. "Call me if something comes up. I'll take care of the rest of the team." The four locals smiled at the team and began to leave.

Chief Grant rubbed Hotch's shoulder. "I won't sleep the best tonight like the last couple of nights; however, with all of you here, I might sleep a little better. See you in the morning."

"Have a good night Chief," Hotch said.

As the four locals left, Matt looked into his laptop. "You too Wild Thing; we've got a helluva day facing us tomorrow."

"You don't have to tell me twice Matt. Thank you. Take care my luvs." The team joined in wishing Garcia a good night.

As the rest signed off with Garcia, Matt felt his stomach rumble for the need of food. He heard Hotch's as well and looked at his watch. It was nearly six in the evening local time. _Seven DC time_ his head quickly figured. Blake picked up on his actions. "How about Chinese? They have to have one around here."

Matt gave her the Hotchner glare. "You trying to kill me and my guts the first night out?"

Blake looked at JJ. "Not Chinese on the first night. Number two has a very touchy tummy," JJ smiled.

"Hang tough, Agent Blake," Prentiss snarked. "You'll get the lay of the land soon," she smiled.

_Damn, I've got a lot to learn around this team._

After much discussion, it was decided that Subway was the option. JJ pulled up the nearest location on her iPhone as Morgan and Matt took their orders. As the two of them walked out the door of the conference room, Rossi said to no one inparticular, "I hate Subway."

"And that's why you ordered a foot long," Reid asked with a smile.

"Shut up kid."

A half hour later, with Matt and Morgan listening to most of their convo while they were making the food run, Morgan started to pass out the sandwiches to each team member, while Matt dug out a pint of milk from a grocery store bag and set it on the table for himself. As he pulled a large bag of chips, some paper plates and some ranch chip dip for the team, Hotch looked at him. Matt smiled at him. "Gotta love small towns Hotch; the Subway is in the same strip mall as the local grocery store."

The team spent the next three hours plus discussing the case as the department office became quiet. Matt looked at his watch again. It read 10:15 local time. The team's bodies were an hour ahead. Fighting off a yawn, he looked at Hotch. "It's time to pull the plug; we all need rest and time adjustment." Hotch nodded his head and they shut down for the night.

A half hour later, he and Morgan pulled the SUVs into the parking lot of their hotel. The third was left at the local PD. They quickly got checked in and headed to their rooms. Dave had a single, which adjoined Hotch and Matt's double room, which the hotel considered a suite. Blake had the same with JJ and Emily. Morgan and Reid, just down the hall, had the same set up.

By a little after eleven local time, there wasn't a light on in any room.

-00CM00-

Matt woke to his cell phone buzzing of a message at 6:20. He didn't need to pick up the phone to know what it would say. Hotch rolled out of his bed to sit on the side in his boxers, rubbing his cheek stubble. "Another victim?"

"Yup," Matt yawned, rolling out looking and feeling the same as Hotch. He sent a text to get the team moving and one to the investigators to have the CSI's not move the body. Putting his cell on the dresser, Matt moved to shave while Hotch showered, making sure first that Dave was up as well.

By seven, the team was assembled in the lobby, Blake with her coffee cup loaded from the hotel's breakfast area. Matt looked at them. "Breakfast is the golden arches by the freeway exit." Twenty minutes later, they all ate as they drove or rode. Prentiss had Hardin on speaker through her iPhone and with the other team members in the other vehicles. Matt, Dave and Blake were in the first vehicle. They would go to the crime scene. The rest would go to their conference room at the LDPD.

"Lt. Hardin, where is the dump site," Hotch asked, wolfing down his second Egg McMuffin.

"At Jamaican Run."

Reid, in the back seat of the same vehicle, with Morgan driving, said, "That's significant. Jamaican Run was the first big property built in Lake Delton just outside of Wisconsin Dells."

"Oh, it's more than that. It's a message to us. 'You're here and I've moved up to the big time'," Dave said.

"Clearly Dave," Hotch acknowledged.

"Agent Taylor," Hardin said, "You just arrived yesterday afternoon. With all due respect to Dr. Reid, how does he know that?"

Matt, trying to get the last of his three Egg McMuffins down, laughed. "First off; let's dispense with the formalities. We're in day two. I'm Matt or Cob; take your pick. And with your accent, I'm guessing you're a Chicago girl Jess."

"Damn you folks are good; and btw Jess works for me Matt." Cob smiled at Dave in the passenger seat.

"As to Dr. Reid; he is our walking fount of knowledge, with an IQ of 186. It's why we keep the skinny kid around."

"More humor to handle the situation, Cob?" Lt. Meier said, obviously on scene as well, even if it wasn't in his jurisdiction.

"That's right Dylan," Matt laughed. "That's my MO. Rossi, Blake and I are ten minutes away."

"Thanks Cob," Jess said. She gave him driving directions to get to the best access point to the crime scene.

As the rest of the team pulled up to the curb of the Lake Delton PD building, Matt eased the Bureau SUV into the crime scene with a Sauk County deputy directing them where to park. Rossi looked at Matt. "The county mounties are here as well? I thought Hotch put that fire out?"

"All communication for Lake Delton PD goes through the Sauk County Sheriff's department." Rossi nodded his head. "They're just back up."

He shook his head. Matt eyed him. "First case in my life they all want to get along."

Matt slightly smiled, pulling off his seatbelt and opening his vehicle door. "Welcome to small town Wisconsin Big Dog." The three agents got out. The Sauk County deputy pointed them into the building.

A clearly back door to the lower facilities of the mega-complex was being held open by another Sauk county deputy, offering the blue gloves to preserve the crime scene. The three agents accepted a pair and the deputy pointed them to the crime scene. Hardin and Meier joined them.

The victim, with the same clear strangulation marks on his neck, was laid out in the massive laundry room of the mega complex. Before they walked in, the three senior agents noticed the workers that were being kept from doing their jobs.

Blake looked at Rossi. "Most of those workers are Hispanic or Oriental."

"There is a huge Hmong population in Wisconsin," Matt explained.

"And I'm sure our unsub isn't after them. It isn't about race," Dave said.

"However it's local and sending a statement," Matt added. Dave no longer needed to verify to his former protégé the job he was doing. Matt Taylor could hold his own with profiling with himself and Hotch. _The kid has an A gam_e Dave thought. _After eight years, he better damn well_.

"But why here," Alex questioned.

"To prove he could," Matt answered.

"And as you said yesterday Matt; a message to us." Matt just nodded at Dave.

Hardin and Meier looked at Blake. "I'm sorry; I may be an SSA; but with this group, I'm the rookie. And the Big Dogs roll with thunder. I'm just here to spit ball with them."

"Seems that word spit ball keeps cropping up with you people," Dylan noted.

Matt smiled. "That's how we do that; we trust each other and bounce ideas off each other. You wouldn't have wanted to sit in with our session last night. And Alex can hang with the rest of us in the profiling; she's just new to the team." As Blake studied the victim, Matt and Dave looked around. "You seeing what I'm seeing?" Dave asked.

"You mean like what we're not seeing; as in security cameras?"

"Boom," Dave said. He and Matt both made a notation, Dave in his notebook and Matt on his phone. "Anything new there Alex?"

She shook her head and rose up. "The victim was just dumped like the others. There's no positioning whatsoever or matches any of the previous dump positions. Did Reid or JJ mention any post mortem bruising from dumping the bodies?"

Matt shook his head. "They didn't but I don't remember anyone bothering to ask. Good point though Alex. Is he literally just dumping them or is he taking the time to lay them down?" He and Dave added to their notes.

Meier looked at Rossi. "Need anything more?" Dave shook his head and Meier waved for the coroner to come in. They left the laundry room and went outside.

Matt turned to the officers. "Do you have an ID of the victim?"

"Not formally but I know who he is," Meier said. The agents looked at him. "He's Mike Bosco; I remember him from my patrol days. I hate to speak ill of the dead, but he's been a pain in the ass in our PD since he was a teenager."

Dave looked around the door. "The entry door doesn't open from the outside; you need a security card to get in."

Matt looked around as well, pointing at a big rock along the wall of the building. "How much you want to bet that door gets propped open for someone to sneak out and have a smoke?" He looked at Hardin. "You should have that dusted for prints as well, just in case." She nodded, getting a tech from the State Crime Lab to join them.

Alex looked around at the lighting. "There's a big light overhead of the doorway," she noted.

"But does it work?" Matt asked.

Meier and Hardin both shrugged. "It was light out by the time we got here."

"Who discovered the body," Matt asked.

"Connie Juarez; she's the laundry shift supervisor. She comes in a half hour earlier than the crew to get some of the equipment going."

"Is she still around?"

"Sure Cob; I'll take you to her." She and Matt went back inside and Hardin found her. Matt smiled at her showing her his credentials. "Good morning Ms. Juarez, I'm Agent Taylor from the FBI. I have just a few quick questions. Does the light above the door work at night?"

"No Agent it doesn't. I carry a flashlight in my purse so I can get my ID swiped to get in the door."

"So it's been out for a while?"

"Yes it has Agent."

Matt smiled. "Thank you ma'am; that's useful information in our investigation. I'm sorry you had to find what you did this morning."

"Agent, please help the police catch who's doing this," she said.

"We're here Ms. Juarez to assist the police so they can do that," he smiled. She smiled back. He and Hardin walked back out.

"And….," Dave asked.

"It's been out for a while. Ms. Juarez carries a flashlight to use the security swipe with her ID." Dave nodded at Alex and added more to his notebook.

Matt looked at Dave and Alex. "We done?" They both nodded. He looked at Hardin. "When you two get done, drop into the conference room. We need to go over some things with you, if you don't mind."

"See you in a bit," Hardin said and Meier nodded his head.

###

**A/N: The Hmong population in Wisconsin and Minnesota are mainly from Laos.**


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N: Any one up for a Monday two for one special?**

Chapter 7

Matt and Dave entered the conference room to see the team heads down in work. Garcia was on their laptops. Alex, as usual, was making a pit stop at the coffee machine.

Matt noticed a closed door meeting in the police chief's office with two individuals who were clearly civilians. He looked at Hotch. "Know what that is about?"

"No and by the looks of things, it's not the friendliest of meetings."

Prentiss walked in. "I just got the 4-1-1 from one of the officers in the ladies room. The woman is Monica Lowry; she's the CEO of the White Wolf properties. The guy is Jeff Davies, who is the President of Tropical Waters Inc. He owns both Jamaican Run and Tahitian Tropical."

Matt looked at Hotch. "Better Chief Dancer then us," he slightly smiled. Alex re-joined them and the three of them started to fill the team in on what they learned. Matt, standing, saw the two people head out of Chief Dancer's office, making a beeline for the conference room. Both Dancer and some of his officers tried to stop them to no avail.

The two big shots blew in the conference room door. Hotch was immediately out of his chair. The woman asked with a demanding voice, "You are the specialists in these crimes. Why haven't you made an arrest? This area and department isn't big enough for you to do your jobs? I'm…."

"We have company bottom lines to think….." the other man said.

Hotch literally cut them off. Matt slightly smiled, thinking back to the old western TV shows he watched with his grandparents. _They just got cut off at the pass_ he thought, looking a Dave, who was smirking as well. Morgan leaned back in his chair, looking forward to what the team all privately referred to as a "Hotchalanche". Emily looked at JJ and Reid with her Cheshire cat look. JJ leaned back as well.

"With all due respect to the both of you, my team is here as consultants. It is our job to provide our analysis of this case and assist the local law enforcement in solving _their _case. To that end, we are their partners. I'm sorry, that is the toughest part of our jobs, but that doesn't happen overnight. In assisting with each and every case that we help local enforcement, no matter how big or small the department may be, my team works tirelessly with the locals to get that job done. That is what my team is trying to do right now and what the two of just interrupted."

Monica Lowry and Jeff Davies silently hoped the floor would open up and take them away. Matt looked at Dave. "Agent, were sorry," Davies started.

"If you truly are, please leave us alone so my team can get back to their jobs and assist these law enforcement departments to catch this individual." The two of them silently left the room. Chief Dancer smiled over his shoulder at Hotch as he got them out of the building.

Matt looked at Dave. "Why he's the boss," he smiled.

"Yeah, we know you Cob and your Irish temper. You wouldn't have been so politically correct."

"What the hell is that Dave," Matt answered with his Irish bullshit smile.

"Where are we," Hotch asked.

"About to discuss what we learned at the latest crime scene," Matt said. "And Hardin and Meier will be joining us soon to do a total case review." He looked around. "I'm assuming you all have questions lined up?"

"Yeah Cob, we do," Morgan answered.

"We've got more to add," Alex said. She, Dave and Matt gave the team their update.

Matt looked at Reid. "Doc, did any of the ME's reports show any post mortem bruising? Like the unsubs literally dropped them at the dump site."

Reid shook his head. "I've read through every report. None reported that."

Emily looked at the three of them that had just returned. "So he's not 'dumping' them in the true sense of the word. He's literally taking the time to put them down on the ground without posing them?"

Matt pointed at her. Hotch looked at Matt and Rossi. "You think we're close to a profile?"

"Aaron, there's blanks that the detectives can fill in," Dave said. "Then, probably yes."

"It depends on the answers we hear from them Hotch," Matt added. "Wild Thing? You there?"

"Ready and waiting Sir Cob."

"Garcia you remember the map I had you narrow down on the jet?"

"You know I do Cob."

"You had one with the addresses of all the victims; add Mike Bosco to that list and put it up."

"That's easy Cob. Give me a smidge."

"You rock Wild Thing."

"You roll," Garcia said back.

Hotch looked at Matt. "It's a hunch Hotch; we need to have our sit down with Hardin and Meier and compare notes. But yeah, I think we're close."

"So do I Aaron," Dave softly said.

Morgan looked at them, getting up from his chair. "Then I need to make a run. We're going to be heads down for a while." Except for Emily and Alex, they all followed Derek to the restrooms. The team returned less than five minutes later with drinks from the various sources to get them through the next phase of their investigation. Hardin and Meier walked in the PD's department door and went to the conference room.

Matt looked at them. "Take a break; both of you." They looked at him. "Trust me; you need the break. If not anything, to get your heads settled. We'll see you in fifteen minutes."

The detectives smiled their answers as they turned back out the door as Chief Dancer stuck his head back in the door. "Thanks Cob for doing that."

Matt smiled. "You're welcome Chief. You might want to do the same giving Chief Grant a heads up to buy you some time."

Dancer smiled. "He's on his way. I've got make a phone call to make to my wife. I think I'm not going to home for supper tonight."

"Welcome to our world Tim," Matt smiled as Chief Dancer walked back to his office. Matt dug out his phone from his pants and hit a speed dial button. The team knew who he was calling.

He listened for a few seconds and then smiled. "Hi Raquel; how's your Niño's," he asked, his cell on speaker.

"My four Niño's have been perfection for me this morning. They all slept in."

Dave looked at Hotch. "Four?"

Hotch nodded. "Jess is in over her head at work right now. Jack is staying with Abbey and the kids. Her payback; she's taking the four of them tomorrow night to a movie."

"They're all playing downstairs right now Matt. Do you want me to get them?"

"No Raquel, let them play. I just wanted to check in. We're going to be busy for a while and so we're taking a quick break. We'll call later tonight to talk with all of them."

"Sounds good Matt; stay safe; all of you."

"Gracias Raquel. Talk to you later." He ended the call.

They all milled around a bit, making small talk until Hardin and Meier, closely followed by Chief Dancer and Chief Grant made their way into the conference room. Matt looked at Hotch and the team. "We ready to do this?"

He looked around to see nods and moved to quietly shut the door.

###


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The conference room table had twelve chairs around it. The four locals grabbed seats that didn't have a Bureau laptop in front of it. Matt sat down for a bit. Hotch looked at them. "This is where we pick your brains. I will tell you my team is close to developing our final profile. We just need all of you to fill in some blanks."

"Ask away," Dylan Meier said. "We have full buy-in that all of you want this guy as bad as we do. We appreciate the help." The team all smiled.

"I'll warn you right now," Matt said. "Some of the questions may seem mundane or even dumb. Please, just go with us. As Hotch said, you're filling in the blanks."

For the next two hours, the team peppered them with minuet and detailed questions. Matt asked the biggest one. "Have any of the deputies been able to come up with where the victims were blitzed attacked?"

Jess Hardin looked at him. "They've been working their asses off and coming up with nothing. Like JJ said, there's little blood so they're having a tough time. That's not much to go on."

When they finished, Hotch looked at Matt and Dave. They both nodded.

Hotch looked at the two Chiefs of Police. "I keep my promises; this team is ready to give our profile. And we need all hands on deck to hear it. That includes the local sheriff's and a few of their people as well. With this small of communities, someone knows this unsub." Dancer and Grant nodded their heads, looking at their watches.

"When do you want to do your presentation," Chief Grant asked.

"As soon as you can get the troops rounded up Craig," Matt answered, already standing for a while. "It'll be night sooner than we all can handle and we want to stop this guy before he drops another body."

Craig Grant looked at Tim Dancer. "We've got some phone calls to make."

Tim Dancer smiled. "Give us an hour," he said, looking at the team. "They'll come running. Trust me." The team all smiled as the four locals left the room.

Matt looked at his watch and then Hotch. "We could be really busy later." Hotch smiled as Matt pulled up Skype on his laptop, sending a text to Abbey. She had sent him one earlier, saying she was working from home for the afternoon since she didn't need to be in court.

Less than two minutes later, Abbey's smiling face appeared on Matt's laptop. "Hi luvs," she said.

"Hi back. Babe, listen to me. We've got an hour; after that, all bets are off."

Abbey smiled back at her husband. "We know."

"Babe?"

"Will has the day off. He's here with Henry and has been playing life guard with the kids in the pool. And Matt, like you, he does talk to his wife." Emily smiled at Alex. JJ gravitated over to Matt's laptop, as Reid got his wide grin. "The kids are all here enjoying a snack and a break from the heat."

"Abs, it's still oppressive there?"

"Matt, it's almost inhumane. Even with the pool, the kids can hardly stand it. And Wilma and Mudg, other doing their thing, refuse to go outside, even with the kids out there."

"Hang on babe; relief is coming. We bumped around yesterday flying up here."

"They've already posted the potential for severe weather warnings. I've got this Matt."

"I know you do babe; why I love you so much. Can you get the kids; we really need them right now." Abbey read his voice and knew what he was telling her.

"Hang on a sec Matt; they're all at the table eating watermelon. Will bought one on his way here with Henry and Raquel cut it all up. The kids are loving it." Matt watched, with Hotch joining him and JJ as Abbey set the laptop on the table. "Say hi troops!"

The team all smiled. They were about to get their butts kicked and they knew it. So the sounds of those young voices resonated with all them, along with their parents. Emily rubbed Alex's shoulder. "A team perk that we all need," she smiled. "Those kids are why we do the job. And hearing their voices is just heaven to all of us." Morgan, sitting next to Emily, rubbed her back, smiling at Alex. Blake knew the parents Skyped with their kids. She had heard them talk about it the next morning at breakfast when they were out on cases. However, in her eight months of being with the team, this was her first to actually witness.

"Those squirts keep us sane," Morgan said. Reid nodded his appreciation as well. Alex Blake beamed as she listened to the conversation.

The four little boys dominated the conversation early with Henry getting time with JJ, Jack with Hotch and Cam and Colin with Matt. With the four young men, the conversation was gregarious and filled with laughter, which the rest enjoyed as well. Things quieted a bit when Casee got her chance to be daddy's little girl. They all melted a bit when she talked with Hotch as well. And she made them all puddles when she asked, "Dad, Uncle Aaron; where's Uncle Dave?" The tough Italian was the biggest puddle of all as he chatted with her with JJ rubbing his shoulder.

Will looked over Casee's shoulder as they were finishing. "Dave, how's it going?"

Dave looked at his watch. "We're a half hour away from delivering the profile and then its game on. I'll let you and Henry talk to JJ. Bye Casee; I love you."

"Love you too Uncle Dave," the little Taylor angel said. Each of the parents got a bit more time with their families. As Hotch was talking with Jack for a bit more, Matt looked out to see more and more uniformed LEO's filing into the bullpen area of the Lake Delton PD. He rubbed Hotch's shoulder.

"Buddy, we've got to go. I love you; be good for Abbey and Raquel."

"Love you too dad and I will. Promise," he smiled.

"Aaron, hang on a second," Abbey said. "Pick up the laptop and show all of us the whole team. Aaron did as she asked. They all heard Abbey quietly count down: "three, two, one."

"Bye everyone! You're our heroes!" the kids shouted in unison. The smiles from the team were heartfelt.

Hotch turned the laptop to set it back down on the table. "Aaron, be safe all of you and bag this guy. The home front is covered. Text me tonight, whenever you can and have Matt do the same."

He smiled. "Promise Abbey." She ended the connection.

Matt smiled at Hotch and Dave and then noticed Tim Dancer leaning against the doorframe of the conference room, smiling. "A little down time for all of you is family time? You deserve it being away from them."

Matt smiled back. "We take what we can get."

"If you're ready, all hands are on deck," he smiled, pointing at Hotch.

Hotch nodded. "We're ready if you are."

"A couple quick introductions if you don't mind with you and Cob and then we're ready." Matt rolled down his dress shirt sleeves, buttoned the cuffs and grabbed his suit coat, pulling it on as Dave did the same.

Hotch and Matt followed the Chief to two people. "Agents Hotchner and Taylor, this is Sheriff Mark Mercer of the Adams County SD. Jason Gertz lived in his jurisdiction." They all shook hands.

"Sorry, I haven't been around sooner with all this; I and most of my deputies have working in the northern part of the county for two days, trying to locate a missing 10 year old boy."

Hotch looked at him. "That should have been your priority Sheriff; no apology needed. I hate to ask….."

Mercer shook his head. "He floated up to the surface this morning on the lake he and his family was camping on. Not much you can do about it; there was no foul play involved. But it still hurts."

Matt, put his hand on Mercer's shoulder and looked at Hotch. "And we thought we were having a bitch of a week. Sorry for the loss Sheriff. Kids are the worst."

"Tell me about it Agent. That's why I'm here on six hours of sleep and my Captain as well. My deputies need something good to hang their hats on at the end of the week."

Hotch looked at him. "Then let's get a bad guy." Mercer nodded his head with a small smile.

Tim Dancer slightly smiled. "And this is Sheriff Marsha O'Connell of Juneau County." Hotch and Matt shook her hand as well.

"Pleasure to meet you both Agents; we haven't lost anyone from our county, but my deputies are willing to help out. Like you just said Agent, let's get a bad guy."

"Good to have you on board Sheriff," Aaron said.

"Cob, how you want to play this," Dancer asked.

"It's your house Tim; we follow your lead. You know these people better than we do." Matt looked around. Emily and Reid had a laptop hooked up to the screen in the room. He looked at them and got a nod back. "We're ready."

Chief Dancer moved to center of the room in front of the team that was standing by the conference room windows and let out a soft whistle. Hotch and Matt joined the team. The conversations between all of the officers ended almost immediately.

"This is Agent Hotchner," he gestured, "the Supervisory Agent in Charge of the FBI's Behavior Analysis Unit." He looked at the rest of the Agents lined up with Hotch. "And these Agents are his team. We, with our small communities, called for help. The Bureau sent their number one team." He looked around the room to see everyone sit up and take notice a bit more than they already were. "I'll let SAC Hotchner make the introductions; please, all of you, listen to what his team has to tell you. Agent Hotchner," Dancer said, nodding his head.

"I won't say good afternoon, because all of you have a serial killer in your communities. Please know that my team is here to assist you to apprehend this unsub or unknown subject and bring this person to justice. My team: Supervisory Special Agent, SSA, lessening the mouth full, Taylor. He is my Assistant Unit Chief and head of team tactical," Hotch said with a nod to Matt, standing on his right. Gesturing to his left, "SSA Rossi, our Senior Profiler and one of the founders of this Unit; SSAs Prentiss, Morgan, and Jareau." He gestured to his right again. "SSAs Blake and Dr. Reid."

"What my team is about to deliver to you is our profile, aka analysis of the serial killer you have in your midst. I will tell you; this is a first for the BAU. To have six jurisdictions working on a case is a first for us. To have six jurisdictions working together, without any territory fights will be unheard of in the BAU for years to come. I know we sent you away in the beginning. But now we need all of you. We can't thank all of you enough for pulling together, putting the egos aside and working with us. We look forward to working with all of you." Hotch looked around the room to nods and slight smiles the team had never seen before.

Morgan started. "What we have is a vigilante killer. In his, and yes, he is male, mind, he is trying to pay back an injustice that he perceives happened to him or his family."

"And by our profile, and simple demographics of your community," Emily added, "he is white of an average age of 35-50."

"That old?" one of the LEO's said.

"Yes," Matt answered. "This type of unsub takes a long time to brew up while planning, meticulously, his revenge."

Reid took over. "By this map on the screen," he said pointing to one of Garcia's graphics she had on the screen, "our first five victims all lived in or around Wisconsin Dells. This is his kill zone; which means he's lives or lived somewhere in this area. We call this his comfort zone; the area between the kill zone and dumping sites." Reid paused. "And he knows both zones well."

"Through Dr. Reid's and I's conversation with the State Medical Examiner," JJ continued, "our unsub has medical training. As in being in Medical School for a while; the blitz attacks he has used on each of the victims is to a specific part of the brain with a padded blunt force object. He knows how to daze them to take control of them."

"And that is what this unsub wants," Blake added. "He wants total control over his victims yet wants them conscious before he kills them. He is out for the biggest revenge."

"Mike Bosco gave all of us the biggest clue," Dave took up. "He's a big, brawling guy. Yet our unsub was able to put him down long enough to do the kill. And yes, our analyst in Quantico has linked Bosco to working at one of the waterparks, just like the rest of the other victims. Yet," Dave said with a wave of his nearly patented index finger, "the waterparks are only a means to his justice. He is not targeting them." He pointed to the map Emily pulled up on the screen. "While he is now honing in on the 'Taj Mahal' properties as Agent Taylor, our Wisconsin boy has coined, he's on a mission to deliver a statement. And we do not believe it's at the waterparks." All the LEO's sat up and took notice.

"That's why he's crossed the jurisdictional bounds of the two cities. He wants to throw us off on our investigation that it's all about the waterparks; our unsub is smart; that draws into his med school knowledge; yet, in reality, it's at the city," Matt said. He looked around. "That city is Wisconsin Dells. Somehow, someway, he perceives he or someone in his family has been screwed by that city."

"That is why we have so many of you here," Hotch said. "Normally, we would not deliver our profile to a group this big. Someone, anyone of you, knows this man. If our profile doesn't click with you, please pass it along to your other shifts. One of you knows this guy. Agent Taylor is going to coordinate with the Lake Delton PD and hotel security at each of the properties to up surveillance at the bigger properties. Sheriff Daniels, since it's your jurisdiction as well, if you've got a spare deputy or two for this, please speak to Agent Taylor." Daniels nodded his head.

Clark Grant, the Police Chief of Wisconsin Dells spoke up. "Hotch, I think I've got an idea who this guy might be."

###

**A/N: While digging through YouTube on Sunday for CM vids, I ran across a debate that got very heated about Rossi introducing Reid as Dr. in Profiling 101. The context being Rossi was saying that he was not an SSA. I don't believe that to be the case. Gideon, according to CM canon started that. Hotch addressed it in the premier episode. That is why he does it here, which as the writer, I have full buy in as well. It's a sign of respect of Reid's accomplishments. Please don't send me hate PMs.**


	10. Chapter 9

**A/N: All of the mentions of the annexation between Wisconsin Dells and Lake Delton are purely my literary imagination.**

Chapter 9

"Clark," Matt asked. The room became eerily quiet as the team watched the blood drain from Chief Grant's face.

"Johnny Hodges."

"Garcia, you hear that," Emily asked through the laptop.

Grant looked at Hotch and Matt. "Johnny Hodges is the son of the former mayor of Wisconsin Dells, Jimmy Hodges. Jimmy was the best guy in the world. He also ran the local pharmacy. When the annexation issue came up, what," he said looking at Tim Dancer, "twenty, thirty years ago," Dancer nodded his head "Jimmy was the leading opponent to it. He felt the tax base for a town our size couldn't handle it; and mainly because of what police coverage would involve. The city council turned down the idea."

"And the Lake Delton city council pounced all over the idea," Tim added. "They saw the other side. The tax revenue generated from having those properties within the city limits."

Clark Grant continued. "Once the big hotels started springing up in Lake Delton, the folks in Wisconsin Dells blamed Jimmy. He ran for re-election, for something like his fifth or six term and got defeated. Six months later, the Dells city council approved the building of a chain drug store on the end of the town, with all the bells and whistles. Once it was up, Jimmy's business fell off." Grant paused for a second.

Emily and Derek's phone pinged of a text. Hotch and Matt knew who it was. "Garcia, we know you've got something, but hang on for a sec," Matt said. He got Emily to pull up Garcia on the screen. "This is our technical analyst Agent Penelope Garcia, working out of our offices in Quantico, Virginia. Garcia, you are on more than speaker phone. What do you have?"

There was a bit of a buzz in the room as the multi-hair colored analyst appeared on the screen.  
"Johnny Hodges' background sir."

"Hang on Garcia," Hotch said, nodding at Grant to continue.

"Johnny was at UW Medical School in Madison, studying pharmaceutical to take over Jimmy's business. Six months later, Jimmy had a major stroke. Johnny had to quit school to take care of Jimmy. Jimmy's wife, Johnny's mother, had passed a few years back from a heart attack. Anyway, all that, with Jimmy dying a couple years later, pretty much wiped out what Jimmy had put away for his retirement. Johnny was able to sell the store property and then later the family cabin they all loved, but it all pretty much wiped them out. But that was over twenty years ago."

"Now Garcia," Matt said.

"Roger Sir Cob. My fantastic digging abilities have pretty much came up with the same story. And sir, you are correct. Twenty three years to be exact; within two years John Hodges' bank account dwindled down to nothing. Do you need dates?"

"No Garcia, we just need an address," Cob said.

"That's the problem sir, and why I pinged Sir Morgan and Emily the Great. I have no address; as in none." Hotch and Matt looked at each other.

"None," Dave asked.

"Oh my great guru, I wish me and my binary systems did. But I have zilch; as in nada. Johnny Hodges is off the grid."

"Garcia, there has to something, someone keeping him in the area and funding him. Find it," Hotch said.

"Yes sir."

Cob looked around the room. "Any of you seen him lately?" He got heads shakes of negative answers.

"Cob, you think he's our unsub," Tim asked. Craig Grant shook his head.

"You pinged him Clark and he fits the profile perfectly. Garcia, car registrations, DL, fishing licenses…."

"Sir, fishing licenses?"

"Garcia, his family owned a cabin and I'm a Wisconsin boy. You can take the boy away from Wisconsin fishing….."

"But you can't take the fishing out of the boy. I'm all over it Cob."

Matt shook his head, looking at Hotch. "I need to step away from this; I've got things I've got to get done and more things after that."

Morgan and Emily strongly advised those in the room to keep the name from coming out of their lips or over their radios. "The last thing we and specifically all of you need is a bunch of head hunters," Morgan said. "The name mentioned in this room, stays in this room." He eyed every officer and deputy to make sure they got the message.

"Go," Hotch simply said. Matt motioned to Tim and Sheriff Daniels and pulled them into the conference room.

"Tim, do you have the number to the big shots at the resorts?"

"They're in my office Cob. I'll get them." He went to his office.

Matt looked at Mike Daniels. "How many deputies can you spare?"

"Hell Cob, I'll call them all out if I have to."

Matt shook his head. "I know you have to take care of your county; keep all your deputies on their regular patrols. What do you have extra, not over extending you staff?"

Mike thought for second. "I have two; and me makes three."

Matt shook his head. "You need time to be with your family and sleep. You're no good to us if you're exhausted. This team can help. We can pull shifts as well."

"Cob? You and Hotch's team doesn't get tired and need down time," Mike asked.

Matt smiled and shook his head. "Tim heard our family time; and honestly Mike, when we're out on cases like this, sleep isn't our biggest option. It's a low priority. We're here to help you." He looked at Matt. He smiled. "You should see our sweet ride home; as in private jet," he winked. "We call the bird Heinz."

"Heinz?" Mike asked.

"Yup Mike; as in catch up."

Mike smiled. "How do you want to play this Cob?" as Tim Dancer entered back in, handing Cob the two business cards of the Water Park executives.

"We lay down an absolute carpet, covering every back access to the big, mega resorts. If the two of you have no jurisdictional problems, the more we can pull in, the merrier."

"Fire away Cob," Tim said. "I sure as hell don't. I want this bastard stopped."

"Count me in on that Cob," Mike added. Cob sailed out of the conference room as some of the LEO's were leaving.

"Excuse me, all of you." They all stopped. "We need to cover all of the back entrance areas of the White Wolf and Tahitian Tropical. Tim and Mike have no problem with jurisdiction issues. Who's got spares that would help out?"

Clark Grant was the first to raise his hand. Sheriffs Chambers, Mercer and O'Connell were quickly behind. Matt looked at Hotch, who nodded with a small smile. "We need them here at nine tonight. I'm going to make contact with the two resorts and get their security on board as well. We'll plan tactical then. Our team will be part of that."

Rossi walked by Morgan. "Shit," he whispered, "I hate all-nighters waiting for something that may not happen."

Morgan smiled. "You and me both big dog."

###


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Hotch walked into the conference room and looked at Matt, who was already dialing his phone. He held up his finger. "I've got this."

"Ms. Lowry, this is Agent Taylor with the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit. We've delivered our profile to the local LEOs and narrowed down to a viable suspect. However ma'am, we need the cooperation of your hotel's security staff as well." He listened for a few seconds. "Ma'am, if you could have the head of security that is on duty at nine this evening at the Lake Delton PD, we'll get him or her briefed and they can take of business with your security staff after that." He listened a few more seconds. "Thank you ma'am; we appreciate your support."

Matt repeated the call to Jeff Davies with the same results. He looked at Hotch. "This team needs a break away from here and food."

Tim Dancer smiled. "I know just the place."

Clark Grant smiled as well. "Mind if I tag along?"

"Hell no Clark," Tim smiled. He looked at Matt. "Round up the troops." This was pretty easy since all of them were walking into the conference room.

"What's going on?" Dave asked, looking at Hotch and Matt.

"A break; something our illustrious leader still can't get through that thick head of his," Matt smiled. Hotch shook his head at Matt as the rest of the team smiled.

"Garcia, you there," Matt asked at his laptop.

"You know it Cob."

"I need the layouts of the Tahitian Tropical and White Wolf. We're taking a dinner break. I need them by 8 pm my time. That should give you time to eat something as well."

"On it Sir Cob and then I'll eat."

"Thanks Wild Thing." They all heard her blink off.

Clark pulled out a quarter from his pocket looking at Tim. "You're vehicle or mine?" he said, flipping it in the air.

"Heads," Tim said.

Clark Grant looked at the coin that settled into his hand. "You're driving," he said with a smile. The rest of the agents followed them out into the perfect Wisconsin early evening.

Matt took a deep breath, looking around at nothing in particular. He noticed Hotch watching him. "I miss this. This is why you live in Wisconsin," he smiled. The air was cooling for the night. Alex shivered a bit, pulling on her suit coat. Matt, in his shirt sleeves, leaving his suit coat behind in the conference room, shook his head with a smile. "You'd die here Alex in January." Tim Dancer and Clark Grant laughed as they got in Chief Dancer's car. The rest of the team got into their vehicles and followed Dancer to a local restaurant. They all walked in.

"Hey Molly, got room for," Tim said, looking over his shoulder to do a head count, "ten of us."

Molly smiled. "Give me a few to get some tables together."

Matt looked at Dancer. "Tim, when you mentioned local hangout, I pictured a person around 50."

"So did I," Rossi added. "Throwing us curve balls Tim?"

He shook his head with a smile. "Molly took over the place after her mother passed a few years back. Cancer; at 52." He shook his head. "Jen was too young. But Molly knows her stuff," he smiled.

"Hell Tim, you remember me walking around here in my diapers," Molly smiled as she rejoined the group a few seconds later, pointing to the tables she and her staff had put together. They all walked to them with water glasses and menus in front of every chair. Angie, their server came over and got drink orders, most going with sodas or iced tea for the caffeine.

The ten of them took the leisurely time to read over the menus while nursing their drinks. Matt flipped his menu closed. "Oh holy shit."

Dave looked at him. "Dave, they have a western burger on the menu. Burger, cheddar cheese, bacon and BBQ sauce; you can't go wrong with that." Clark Grant smiled, shutting his menu as well.

Angie returned a few minutes later and took their orders. The carnivores of the group being Matt, Hotch, Dave, Morgan and the two local police chiefs went with the western burger. Emily and JJ got the night special of grilled chicken sandwich with provolone. Reid and Blake choose the ham and swiss sandwich.

As they waited on their food, they talked about everything but the case. Clark Grant looked the two agents in charge in the eye. "You all need this."

Hotch nodded. "Yes Clark; we do," he smiled. Matt, sitting next to Hotch, reached over, pulled his tie loose and unbuttoned his collar. He lightly slapped Hotch on the shoulder. "Now you can Hotch."

Morgan shook his head at Matt. "Do you realize how many times I've wanted to do that? Cob you've got a set."

Matt shook his head, rubbing Aaron's shoulder. "Don't need a set Morgan; you just know and trust your partner," he smiled. They all shared a laugh, including Hotch.

He looked at Morgan. "Don't get any bright ideas. You… I can out draw," he said with the Hotch glare that quickly softened into a smile. They all laughed harder. Angie and another server brought their food. It was heaven on a plate.

As they all walked back into the conference room Blake, to no one said, "Can I just curl up in a corner for a while?" Emily rubbed her shoulder.

Matt looked at Morgan, while getting Garcia on the phone. "Wild Thing; my latest project for you?"

"Sugs, check your email. And btw Cob; tactical planning version going to the big screen in the fine Lake Delton PD bullpen in three, two, one." They all heard her hit a button.

Tim Dancer looked at Hotch, his collar and tie securely back in place. "We could use one of her around here."

"We've heard that more than once Tim," Hotch smiled, fondly remembering Ava Ruiz in Texas. Matt and Dave smiled as well, sharing the same memory.

Matt looked at Dave. "Small package but tougher than nails."

Dave nodded his head. "She was good. And smoked out an unsub." Matt and Hotch both nodded.

Matt looked at Morgan. "We need to strategize."

"Right behind you man." They both headed out to the big screen and looked at what Garcia had put up. They highlighted all the points, with Garcia's help, they thought the unsub would try to slip in a victim.

Morgan looked at Matt. "You do know we can't make assignments until we know what the hotels can cover and how my other officers we have?"

Matt smiled at him. "Strategic warfare planning 101; know your force." Morgan slapped him on the shoulder.

"You got this Colonel," he smiled.

"Yes, but I want your input as well Derek."

"You got it Cob," he smiled. They talked over some things, with Hotch, Dave, Tim and Clark hanging around as well.

At the appointed nine o'clock hour, two deputies from each of the counties involved, three local volunteers from each of the two local PD's as well as the heads of security from both the hotel properties were assembled.

As Matt and Morgan laid out their plan, the head of security for the White Wolf property took a phone call.

When it ended, he looked at the Matt and Morgan. "Agents, I don't think we'll need this tonight. My security team just spotted a body floating in one of the kiddie outdoor pools. It has strangulation marks around the neck that look like they were made from wire."

Matt and Morgan looked at each other. "Sonofabitch," Matt said.

###

**A/N: Ava Ruiz was the sheriff in "A Rite of Passage" S5.**


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Everyone in the room looked at the two FBI profilers. Matt looked at the hotel security chief. "You've got to have video in that area."

Owen Martin shook his head as it hung a bit. "The system re-boots for the security cameras at certain times for certain areas. The kid's pool outside closes at eight…"

Matt just shook his head, looking at all the officers gathered. "Same thought tomorrow night if all of you don't mind. We'll keep your chiefs and sheriffs apprised of a meeting time." They all shook their heads and headed out the door. The BAU team wasn't far behind. But while the deputies and officers were going home, the team was headed to the White Wolf property with Jess Hardin and Chief Dancer. Hotch had tried to convince Tim to go home but it didn't work.

"I'll sleep when we catch this bastard."

As they drove to the site, Hotch called Garcia. "We're on our way to a new crime scene and I'm sure we'll have plenty for you to dig up. But in the morning Garcia; Matt or I will send you an email of what we'll need. Go home and get some rest."

"Thank you sir," she said. "Garcia bids you all adieu. Please get some sleep OK guys." Everyone in the Bureau vehicle wished her a good night as well. They all got out at a side location and were escorted by the hotel security chief to the area. The hotel staff already had curtains up to keep the area from the view of hotel guests and had large portable lights in place.

One of Chief Dancer's officers looked at him. "I think the Crime Lab people should just get a hotel room," he said shaking his head. The body was still in the water.

Reid bent down to look at it closely. "Reid," Hotch said. "Look like the same type of wound?"

"Without a microscope or knowing the specific gauge of wire used, I'd say it's pretty close compared to what JJ and I saw at the ME's office." JJ looked closely as well and nodded her assessment.

Dancer and Martin both looked. "How in the hell did this guy know that the cameras would be off?" Dancer asked.

Martin said, "A former employee?" he said looking at Matt and Hotch.

Matt shook his head. "Our technical analyst would have found that connection." Matt noticed Dave making some notes on his always present black leathered-covered notebook. He was thinking the same thing and made a quick note on his phone.

"The victim," Prentiss said, joining Blake to look at the body "is Oriental."

"Cob, Chief Dancer," Blake said, "Can you take a closer look? Could he be Hmong?" They both did and nodded their head. "I trust our profile, but is this a message to the workers or former workers of the hotel properties?"

"It's a ruse Alex; trust me," Dave said. "Our profile is spot on. He's using this to throw the investigation off while he's plotting his ultimate revenge. He's got a list of people he wants to specifically target, and my bet is if we don't catch him, he'll start slipping those people onto his victim list; and probably soon."

"I'll call mama," Morgan said.

"In the morning," Hotch and Matt said together. Morgan was in the other vehicle as they drove to the crime scene.

"I sent her home for the night," Hotch said. Morgan pointed at Hotch with a small smile.

JJ looked at the rest. "Still; how does someone know the video cams for this area get rebooted after the pool closes down?"

Dave smiled. "It's a hotel Jayje, not a casino. It was probably a hack job; and if I'm right, probably pretty easy. Matt and I already are on it," he smiled.

Matt looked at the security chief. "There is no video whatsoever of this guy getting into the building?"

Martin shook his head. "We only video the public areas; as the other agent said, we're not a casino."

Matt looked at Dave, who shook his head and the rest of the team and then Hotch. "Not much more we can do here for the night."

Tim Dancer looked at them. "I'm heading out as well. Sounds like you folks have a lot on your to-do list in the morning. Why don't you do the same?" he smiled

Hardin did the same, shaking her head, pointing to a muscular man coming at them. "This is my partner in crime," she said, using quote marks in the air. "Detective Josh Insler; he just got promoted from deputy on patrol six weeks ago." She smiled. "And my out for the night."

"Josh earned it," Chief Dancer smiled making the introductions to the BAU team.

"Pleasure to finally meet all of you; this is my Monday." The team all smiled. "I've got this; I'll stand around and wait for the state crime scene peeps from Madison. Take a break." He looked at Jess. "I'll send you my report when I have it."

Jess nodded at the BAU team. "Include Agents Hotchner, Taylor and Rossi on that. I'll text you how to contact them." He nodded.

Matt looked at him with a smile. "You played some football."

Insler smiled back. "Yeah; I was on the 2007 team at UW-Whitewater that won the national D3 championship. It was my senior year. I was starting inside linebacker." He smiled again. "Law enforcement, however, was my degree and my passion."

Matt lightly slapped him on the shoulder. "Glad to have you on board." He handed Insler a card. "Send your report to me; I'll take care of the rest." He shook his hand. "Have fun."

Insler sadly shook his head. "The joys of being the junior officer."

Matt shook his head. "I know them well," he smiled. The team moved to their vehicles.

Tim Dancer looked at all of them. "See you in the morning," he waved, getting into his vehicle.

The team got in and made the drive to their hotel. As they pulled off the freeway, Morgan called Matt. "I agree; totally," is all Hotch, Rossi and Blake heard. Instead of following the "main drag" to the fast food restaurants and their hotel, Matt took a right at the sign that pointed to the Business District.

Hotch looked at him. "Partner, I don't care about you right now. Morgan and I are a quart low. We need a beer. And this team needs some down time."

Matt pulled the Bureau SUV up to the curb of the first building he saw with a beer logo neon sign. Two older guys, noticing the license plates, walked in. Morgan saw their looks. They had left their third vehicle at the Lake Delton police station. Hotch dealt with budget issues; and while the team initially needed the third vehicle, saving on gas was going to get Hotch a quicker sign off on their expense reports.

They all walked in and bellied up to the bar. An older man approached them. "Good evening agents; you here working on the case up in the Dells?" Matt looked at him. "Word gets around the area," he smiled.

"Yeah we are," Matt smiled. "But we need a break."

The bartender stuck out his hand to Matt. "Andy Doogan; I own the place," he smiled.

Matt's face lit up. "And a fellow Irishman to boot," Matt said with his Irish accent. "Pleasure to meet you Andy; Matt Taylor" he said, shaking the bartender's hand. "I need the coldest bottle of Miller Lite you have in the house," with his usual voice. Andy beamed.

Hotch, loosening his tie and collar button, held up two fingers. Andy put coasters down for the two of them, pulled a cooler door open and pulled their order, setting the clearly cold bottles in front of them. They both took a tug as Andy looked at Rossi.

"Hey Andy, this is dad. He's the one with the cash and buying. Treat him right," Matt winked.

"You got it," Andy smiled back.

Rossi looked at Cob. "You always carry cash, and I've got a five that says Andy doesn't do plastic.

Andy smiled at Dave. "You're buying dad."

"Then Andy," Rossi said, "you better have a bottle of 18 year old scotch finely hid away."

Andy pulled a bottle of Glen Livet off the back shelf and grabbed a glass. "Straight or on the rocks?" he smiled.

"Straight," Dave smiled.

Blake sitting next to Dave ordered a Bombay Sapphire Gin and tonic. Dave burrowed an eye into her. "Et tu Brute?"

Blake just smiled. "Thanks dad," she smiled.

Rossi looked at Cob. "You've created another damn monster."

Matt held his hands up in the air. "The boss man said I was supposed to be nice to the new agent. Sue him; or her," he smiled with his Irish smile.

Andy laughed and moved to Morgan, setting Alex's drink in front of her. "I'll have a Coors Light Andy," he smiled.

Andy looked at him. "Son this is Wisconsin."

Morgan gave Andy his megawatt smile. "And I'm a Chicago boy. I could have ordered a Bud product, but I knew that'd get me thrown out of here." Andy laughed as Emily added a finger and JJ as well. He lined up the three beers, looking at Reid.

"I'll have a vodka tonic."

"Any preference on the vodka," Andy asked.

Spencer shrugged his shoulders as Andy looked at Matt. "He's young and still learning," Matt smiled. He and Dave clinked beer bottle to glass as Andy put Reid's order on the coaster. Andy moved to his register. "That's nineteen seventy five dad," he smiled.

"A wonderful year, if you didn't mind Nixon resigning," Dave smiled, looking at Andy. "You sure?"

Andy smiled. "Law enforcement discount," he winked. Dave pulled out a twenty. Hotch pulled out a five for the tip.

Andy smiled. "You guys always do it right. Why you get the discount," he said as he took Hotch's five off the bar top. Andy looked at them and being the bar owner that he was, left them alone to move to other end of the bar. He knew how to read his customers.

"I've always said a bartender would make a great profiler," Dave smiled at Matt.

"Yup, Big Dog. They can read people just about as well as us. And they don't need the classes. It's in the genes." Dave nodded at him.

The team all sat pretty silently, taking in their drinks. Matt was standing. While the liquor drinkers were still nursing their drinks, Andy noticed the beer drinkers had polished off their round. He moved back to their end of the bar they all were sitting at. Matt waved a finger in the air for the second round for the beer drinkers, pulling out his own twenty dollar bill from his wallet. Matt smiled at him, pushing the change from his bill back at Andy. "Thank you Andy," he smiled.

"Get that SOB agent," Andy said.

Cob raised his beer bottle in a salute. "You'll be the first to know," he smiled.

The team finished their drinks and then headed to their hotel with a wave at Andy. They all were in bed by midnight.

###

**A/N: The UW-Whitewater Warhawks played in the same US football conference that my alma mater college UW-RF did. They were a powerhouse back then.**

**D3 is Division 3 of the NCAA tier. It's the small colleges with less than 7K in student population.**

**Bud, as in Budweiser beer, is big in Chicago. Miller products, as in Miller Lite, are brewed in Wisconsin. It's a home state beer. Morgan's allegiance to his home city is true. It's a regional thing. What can I say?**


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

The hotel they were staying at had a beautiful pool area and the next morning, Matt and Hotch took advantage of it, getting a swim and a little time in the hot tub before showering. Yet, like most days they were the first two in the breakfast area the hotel provided. Matt had his laptop along and the two of them were going over things to have Garcia look for.

"The biggest thing I want to know is how hard it is to hack into that security system."

"Agreed," Hotch said. "We've got to find out just how sophisticated our unsub is."

"And, if we were really good boys, she could trace the hack," Matt smiled. "But I'm not going to hold my breath on that one." Hotch just smiled, taking a bite of his oatmeal. As much time as they spent together, professionally and personally, Hotch always appreciated their breakfast time while out on cases. Matt could make him smile while they talked over the little things about a case.

Matt, shoveling in a mouthful of cereal, looked at Hotch. After he swallowed, he eyed his friend, looking around to see if there were any prying ears. "Think we're wrong about Hodges?"

Hotch looked at him, taking a drink of his orange juice. "There's always that possibility but like Dave told Alex yesterday, you have to trust the profile. He fits. That makes him viable."

"I know Aaron; but we've had cases before when we thought we had our guy and they turned out to be the wrong one."

Hotch looked at Matt. Matt was not one to question himself. "You OK?"

"I trust my gut Aaron, and my gut does not have full buy -in." Aaron arched his eyebrows at Matt. After working with Matt for eight years, Aaron had learned long ago to trust Matt's gut. Matt shrugged. "Maybe it's just that the guy is in the wind. How many times have we run up against someone that has totally taken themselves off the grid? And how did most of them work out?"

_George Foyet being the biggest_ Hotch thought. He knew his friend too well. _It was one occasion he didn't get there in time. Matt Taylor does not like to lose_. "Let's see how today plays out and then maybe do a re-think."

The rest of the team joined them, fueled up and they walked into the Lake Delton PD building a little before 8 am. The female officer at the front desk buzzed the security door open for them with a smile. "I've gotta admit, you do put in the hours."

"Why we make the big bucks Dolores," Matt said, rolling his eyes. She laughed as they all went to the conference room. They all opened up their laptops and started in.

Garcia appeared on their screens. "Good morning my fine furry friends," she smiled. Matt looked at Aaron. "Drug test."

"Check." The team, except for Alex, all laughed at the now BAU infamous Hotch one-liner. Blake looked at Emily, who had become her "fill in the gaps" person.

"Remind me later," Emily smiled.

Garcia smiled. "First off, the news is not good from the home front. I cannot find one iota of paper that says John Hodges is around. He's is literally off my binary grid." Matt looked at Aaron.

"Garcia, have you had time to do follow-up on the email Matt sent you this morning?"

"You know better sir; it literally took me less a minute to hack the White Wolf security system. Which means a mere mortal, would have to work a bit. But if they've got some hacking skills, they could get it done easy enough in a day or two."

"Meaning Garcia," Rossi asked. He and Matt were on the same page about knowing where Hodges' knowledge level was at.

"Thirteen year olds could do it Sir Rossi."

He looked at Aaron and Matt. "That's one in our favor. Thanks Garcia."

"You are most welcome my favorite Italian; I will continue my all out search for this scum bag. Garcia out." She disappeared. They spent the rest of the morning doing what they did best: bouncing ideas off of each other. Hardin sat in on the session once she got on the clock and at times, just shook her head at the dynamic of the team and how well they all worked together. There were no egos.

After Chief Dancer completed his morning paperwork and the team taking a break, he joined in. They kept going, coming up with nothing new. Matt, standing, giving his aching hip a break shook his head. "Matt," Dave said, "talk to us. You know small towns better than all of us and in this part of the world."

"In other words, use my brain instead of relying on Garcia?"

"Boom," Dave pointed.

Dancer looked at Hotch. Hotch slightly smiled. "Why he's still the Big Dog."

Matt paced for a bit and then looked and pulled his cell out. He called Clark Grant and put him on speaker. "Clark, Tim is here as well. There's got to be someone in this area that knows all the people and players and how they are all related."

They all could hear Grant thinking for a second. "One comes to mind; but I really don't know how well she is."

Tim smiled. "But I can find out real quick." He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and put it on speaker as it rang. Matt looked at him. "I grew up in Wisconsin Dells."

"Molly's Place," they heard over the phone.

"Hey Molly; it's Tim Dancer."

"Hey Tim; lunch order to go?"

"No Molly; a personnel question. How's great grandma Tillie doing?"

"She's in the nursing home in Portage. You know that."

"But Molly, if you don't mind me asking, how is her mind?"

They all could hear Molly smiling over the phone. "Tim, at 103, it's her hip that put her there. She's sharp as tack and still cheats playing cards."

"How would she handle getting some visitors from the FBI?"

"Tim, what's up?"

"Molly, just trust me and answer the question."

"She'd love visitors and especially ones that pick her brain, if I'm following your train of thought Tim. However, please send the tall Irish guy and the little blonde. They won't intimidate her."

Tim smiled at the team. "Thanks Molly."

"Great call Tim," Clark Grant said over Matt's cell.

"Thanks Clark," Matt said. "We'll keep you in the loop."

"You got it Cob." Matt ended the call.

Matt reached for his suit coat, wrapped over the back of his chair, as JJ did the same. "Tim, a little background please."

"Matilda Blanchard; she wrote the society column for the Wisconsin Dells weekly paper for years. She knew everyone and anyone. And a lot more dirt that she kept to herself. Her column was all about whose family got together over the Fourth, who welcomed a new baby and the entire lineage; stuff like that. Tillie knew that town upside and downside. The locals ate it up. Hell, even when I was kid, I remember reading her column first before anything else every week until she retired. Twenty years ago. She did it for fifty years."

Matt smiled at JJ. "Let's go Mrs. LaMontagne." The two of them headed out the door as JJ called Garcia.

"Pen, we need the directions to the nursing home in Portage."

-00CM00-

Matt opened the door to the nursing home for JJ and followed her in. JJ walked to the front desk. "We're looking for Tillie Blanchard," she smiled.

The receptionist pointed them down a hallway. "Room 121," she smiled. Matt smiled his thanks and he and JJ made their way down there. JJ knocked on the door.

"Come in," they heard.

JJ stuck her head in, walking into the room. "Ms. Blanchard?"

"I'm Tillie Blanchard; who are you my dear?"

JJ smiled at Matt. "I'm Jennifer Jareau; I'm with the FBI," she said showing her credentials. "This is my partner, Matt Taylor." Matt showed his credentials as well. "Tillie, we need your help."

"How can an old woman like me help the FBI?" JJ pulled up a chair to be on Tillie's level, sitting in her wheelchair.

"Tillie," Matt smiled, bending down to her eye level, "You know people; and we're trying really hard to find a bad guy. We believe you can help. Molly said you could."

Tillie face lit up. "Did you know that Molly is pregnant? She's going to make me a great-great grandmother," she smiled.

"No, we didn't Tillie," JJ smiled. "However, that is wonderful news. Our team ate at Molly's restaurant last night. The food was wonderful and we all had a great time."

"You're team?"

Matt looked at her beside her wheelchair. "Tillie, yes our team. We're after a really bad guy, we've come a long way from our homes and we believe you can help us."

Tillie burrowed her eyes at Matt. "How can an old woman, stuck in a wheelchair and in a nursing home help the FBI?"

Matt smiled. "By letting us pick the part of you that is still working the best." He softly touched her temple. "Your brain." JJ smiled. _Matt has her_. "Will you help us?"

"Is this about all those murders?" Matt and JJ nodded their heads. "Damn straight Agent; these idiots around here think I'm just an old coot. I know more than they ever will. How can I help?"

"John Hodges."

"Johnny Hodges?"

"Yes ma'am."

Tillie Blanchard looked Matt in the eye. Being the profiler that he was, he saw complete clarity. He looked at JJ. She nodded. "I knew that boy had issues the day he came out of the womb." JJ looked at Matt. "Rumor around town was that he killed all of the neighborhood pets." Matt looked at JJ.

"Tillie," JJ said softly. "We need to find him. But he's hiding and we can't find where he is."

Matt rubbed Tillie's arm. "He's got to have a relative in the area that he knows and has money."

Tillie looked at the two of them and then broadly smiled. "His mother's step sister; Agents you have to realize back in the day, having a step family, especially around here wasn't normal. We didn't do step families well. But his aunt and her husband had a big farm on the northwest end of Sauk County. And she had loads of money. But she passed some years ago."

Matt rubbed her arm again. "Tillie, we need a name." JJ smiled at her as well.

Tillie smiled broadly. "Blanche Crockett."

Matt reached up and kissed her cheek. "If I wasn't married Tillie, I think I would love you in a heartbeat."

Tillie blushed as JJ smiled. "Thank you Tillie. You've helped us immensely."

"You are the bomb Tillie."

Tillie brushed him aside. "If the FBI is here, it has to be big. You kids get the hell out of here."

Matt smiled. "Yes ma'am. Thanks Tillie," he said rubbing her shoulder.

Tillie eyed Matt with a large spark in her eye. "You're really married?"

Matt showed her his wedding ring. She laughed. "Get out of here you two and go catch a bad guy."

"Thanks Tillie," Matt said, giving her cheek a peak again. The two agents literally flew down the hall, with JJ pulling out her cell phone.

"Garcia, everything you can find on Blanche Crockett. She lives, or lived, in the northwestern part of Sauk County."

"I'm on it Jayje; and I'll let the team know."

"Thanks Garcia," JJ said.

###


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Matt flew up the freeway with the lights and siren of the Bureau vehicle blazing. He and JJ made the trip in a little over 10 minutes. They blew into the conference room. "What have we got?" Matt said.

Reid and Morgan looked at them. "Garcia is still digging," Reid updated them.

"Mama will find something," Morgan added.

Matt pointed to him. "Let's hope." Just then their laptops pinged.

"Garcia, what do you have," Hotch asked.

"Blanche Crockett died in 2001 leaving the farm her and husband owned to John Crockett in her will. It's outside of La Valle. That's what took me so long. I've been tracking down John Crockett's background. Until 2000, he didn't exist."

"Which gave him a lot of time to plan his revenge," Rossi said.

"PG, you got a picture?"

"Of course Em; it's from his current DL." The picture popped up.

Tim Dancer took a look. "That's him; Johnny Hodges. Of course, he's aged some but haven't we all. And look at the mark of the top of his left ear. John Hodges got his left ear badly cut in a bar fight a number of years back. We had to back up the Dells PD on that one."

"Garcia…."

"GPS coordinates are flying to your phones, sir."

"Tim, call Mike Daniels. We'll need a search warrant ASAP."

"On it Cob." He left to call Sheriff Daniels.

"Need anything else?" Garcia asked.

"Yeah mama, can you get us a satellite view of the farm?" Matt pointed at Morgan.

"Give me a few." They could hear her fingers flying over her keyboards.

"Garcia, when you get that can you get it on the large monitor we used for the profile briefing?"

"You got it Cob."

"Thanks." The image came up on their laptops. Matt and Morgan took a look together.

Chief Dancer walked back in. "Mike said he can have a search warrant in hand with in an hour. He'll meet all of you at the Reedsburg PD building. He's got to come up from Baraboo, which is the county seat. That will take him about 20 minutes."

"How long does it take to get to Reedsburg from here," Morgan asked.

"About 25 minutes doing the speed limit," Dancer answered. Matt and Morgan looked at their watches.

"Should give you two time enough to do some planning," Hotch said. They went out to look at the satellite image on the large screen.

Matt's cell rang in his pocket. He answered it. "Matt, Mike Daniels here. How many of my deputies do you need?"

"As many as you can spare Sheriff with tactical training and all via cell phone. This guy could be listening to a police scanner. We don't want to tip him off. We'll discuss tactical when we meet in Reedsburg, if that's all right with you?"

"Sounds like a plan Cob."

"Give me or Hotch a call Mike when you've got the search warrant so we can set an actual meet time."

"Sure thing Matt; talk to you in a bit." Matt and Morgan went back to the satellite image. They spent the next twenty minutes pointing out different things to each other of potential danger zones.

Matt's cell rang again and pulling it out of his pocket, looked at the caller ID. "Mike, good news please."

"Judge Werner signed off on the search warrant. My head of SWAT and I are waiting on a third deputy to get here, and our fourth deputy trained in tactical will meet us in Reedsburg. You can't miss the PD Cob; it's right on Main Street. The parking lot is in back."

Matt looked at his watch. 1:30. "Mike can all of you be there by 2:15?"

"Shouldn't be a problem Cob. We'll be leaving in about fifteen minutes."

"See you then." Matt ended the call. He and Morgan walked into the conference room. "We're a go Hotch. We're meeting Sheriff Daniels and three of his tactical trained deputies at 2:15."

"Let's get ready," Hotch said to the team. They all headed out of the conference room door and took a bathroom break. As they returned, the three female agents with their hair pulled back in pony tails, the team pulled out their flashlights, handcuffs and Kevlar from their go bags. When they were in an office setting, most of them choose to put them in there rather than carrying around the extra stuff. Morgan, of course, was the exception.

As they all began to look ready, Matt checked them over. When it came to wearing Kevlar, he was by the book, which Agent Blake found out her first time with the team. She slightly smiled at the memory.

"_Agent Blake, your Kevlar is not on correctly." She looked at him. "Your lower neck is exposed." He pointed underneath his own vest. "I get hit here, I'll live." He pointed to her exposed neck. "You get hit there, chances are you die."_

"_This isn't Vegas and we don't play the odds on this team," Hotch added._

Starting to head for the door, Chief Dancer and the few officers in the office wished them well. "Be careful out there," he smiled.

Rossi smiled. "I loved Hill Street Blues too."

Hotch shook his hand. "Thanks Tim; we'll keep you in the loop."

"Appreciate it Hotch," he smiled. "Clark is on his way here as well." Hotch nodded at him. Matt and Morgan were both carrying their laptops as well.

The drive to Reedsburg in the two Bureau SUVs was quiet until Hotch got a call from Garcia. "Sir am I in time?" she said with a panicked voice.

"Go ahead Garcia," Hotch said, "I'm putting you on speaker. Let me get Emily in the loop." He connected with Emily to get the other vehicle in as well. "Go Garcia."

"Sir and Sir Cob, I've been doing some checking, and some of it under the table I might add."

Morgan in the next vehicle said, "Spit it out mama."

"John Crockett, aka Johnny Hodges has made copious amounts of gun purchases over the last five years."

"How big Garcia," Matt asked.

"Too many sir."

"Any assault rifles," Matt asked, shaking his head.

"None sir; all handguns, shotguns and hunting rifles."

"Shit," Matt said. "Thanks Garcia." He looked at Hotch.

Everyone was heads down on the task that was waiting for them. Morgan chimed in. "Two Sauk county deputy vehicles made a left onto the highway we're on from US 12. They're right behind us."

"Thanks Morgan," Hotch said. They all pulled into the back parking lot of the Reedsburg PD within seconds of each other. A third Sheriff's vehicle pulled in a few seconds later.

As Morgan got out, he said to no one in particular, "The temp and humidity is getting brutal."

Matt looked at him. "Welcome to summer in Wisconsin." He laughed at bit. "I'd love to see some of you here in winter."

Morgan, the Chicago kid smiled as well. "Starting with the Vegas Wonder," he beamed. Matt pointed at him. Reid looked at both of them with his "huh" look. They both just shook their heads as Rossi slightly laughed.

The deputies joined them as Matt and Morgan set up their laptops in the open back hatch of the SUV Matt was driving. Sheriff Daniels made the introductions. "This is Deputy Mark Garnier; he's our trained sniper, compliments of the Marines."

"Semper Fi," Matt and Rossi said together.

"Hoo-rah," he smiled his answer, shaking their hands.

"This is Deputy Adam Pulk," he added. "And this is Deputy Carrie Standingbear; she's my SWAT leader."

Even at a mere five foot six inches, Matt immediately recognized a person that knew her job.

"Can't go wrong with a full-blood Sioux on the job," she smiled.

Hotch quickly made the team introductions. "Agent Taylor is charge of tactical."

Matt shook Deputy Standingbear's hand. "Pleasure to meet you; Matt or Cob works in a pinch," he said with a smile. He noticed all the locals were wearing ear pieces as well. "We need to get on the same frequency as you."

"We've got only the one Cob; through our dispatch system, but it's all ours for this type of operation," Standingbear said.

"We need the frequency," Morgan said. Deputy Garnier gave it to them and Emily and Rossi went to the vehicles to get it dialed in on the FBI radios. Once the two agents did, they all did a comm check. Matt nodded, satisfied.

Matt and Morgan pointed to all of the out buildings on the property that was on the satellite view from their laptops. Matt looked at Deputy Standingbear. "How do you want to play it?" The deputies all shook their head at the technology the Bureau agents had at their disposal.

She smiled. "I've read your resume online and you have more people here to take care of then me. And I know you'll take care of us as well. You call it; I'll back you."

"Team assignments: Hotch, in lead with Prentiss; Morgan in lead with Jayje; Rossi in lead with Reid; Alex, you're with me."

"Cob and me think we should hit the house first, and the garage at the same time," Morgan said.

"Sheriff, you and Pulk along with Rossi and Reid; the house is yours." The four of them nodded. He looked at Standingbear and Garnier. "I want the two of you out here," he said pointing to the laptop, "to be available to come running if we need you." They both smiled. "Blake and I will take the garage. The next biggest worry is the barn. There are too many places to hide in there, trust me. Hotch, Morgan, you and your partners check the parameter for how many doors we have to cover. You do that one as one force. Once we've cleared those three, we'll work from there and pray like hell Hodges is around there. And please be aware, he has an arsenal of firearms. And because of that, this will be a silent entry. No radios, no sirens, no announcements."

"And if he's not," Deputy Pulk asked.

"Then Deputy, he's already out hunting his next victim and we're still behind him," Rossi said.

Sheriff Daniels looked up to see the Reedsburg Police Chief coming at them. "Hey Mike," he smiled. "Tim Dancer gave me a heads up. I just wanted to come out and wish you all the best."

"Thanks, Tony; we appreciate it and the use of your PD." Daniels quickly made the introductions.

Tony Mathias smiled at the group. "Be safe; all of you. Good luck."

"Thanks Chief," Hotch, Matt and Morgan said together. He moved back into the building. Every LEO in the area was itching to catch this guy. But it was Sauk County jurisdiction; and it had to be done by the book.

Matt looked around. "Any questions; please now is the time." The whole group shook their heads. "Let's get this done." They all got in their vehicles and started the drive. Each of the leads of the FBI team was in the front seat of the two vehicles. Their partner was sitting behind them.

-00CM00-

Johnny Hodges fired up the engine to his pickup with the two foot high cover over the back bed. He looked through the window of the cab, almost lovingly back at it. It was where he had killed all of his victims. He pushed the button to open the garage door. He would go to a car wash to get rid of any clue of the last victim, take the time like always to dry the bed out and then go hunting again. _This time, its big game_ he wickedly thought.

When the door rose to the top, he eased the truck out of its stall, having backed it in the night before. While the driveway was long, with the garage on a little knoll of the property, he took a quick peek at the county highway he would pull on to. It was then he noticed the one, and then two, then three sheriff's vehicles cresting the hill to the southeast. He stopped and looked. They were followed by two black SUV's.

_Shit_ he thought. _How in the hell did they find me?_ He threw the truck in reverse, quickly putting it back in while hitting the button to drop the door. He shut the engine off, leaving the keys in the ignition and bolted out the side door he had close, running to his safety zone. Where he would make his last stand. _Maybe I can take a few of them with me_ he thought with a smile. He ran into the old milk house of the barn, pulling out his arsenal.

Sheriff Daniels in the lead vehicle with Deputy Standingbear in the passenger seat slowly pulled up the driveway. Deputy Pulk followed, then Deputy Garnier. They pulled into the driveway area with Garnier keeping his vehicle back a bit. Yet, it gave the two FBI vehicles enough room to get around the deputies vehicles. As Matt pulled towards the milk house, taking a quick look at the barn with Standingbear getting out, a bullet winged by her head. Hearing the rapport of the shot, she dove to the ground. Matt pulled his vehicle up next to her, cut the engine and bolted out, pulling her up off the ground to the safety of the left side of the vehicle. "You OK," he asked. She nodded her head.

Hotch crawled over the console in between the two front seats to get out the left side as well. "The right side is hot," he radioed. "Repeat, the right side is hot." The rest of the team followed his lead.

Matt looked at Standingbear. "So much for fuckin' strategic planning."

###

**A/N: Hill Street Blues was one of the most astounding cop shows that graced US television IMHO. It ran from 1981-1987. Steven Bocho, the producer was a visionary. I'd like to think he lead the way for shows like Criminal Minds. Anyway, most times, the hour started out with Sgt. Phil Esterhaus doing the morning roll call of assignments. His last sentence to them all: "Let's be careful out there".**

**My rant on wearing Kevlar is one that I've had ongoing with CM. I know it's a TV show, but really? You wear it that low on your neck? Where is the technical advisor on this? *climbs down off of soap box***

**Out buildings on a farm are the garage, barn, storage sheds for tractors and equipment and maybe a chicken coop.**

**The area is each state in the US is divided up by counties. Each county has a "seat". Each county has one city that has the county sheriff's department headquarters, country jail, courthouse and other official agencies.**

**A little help for the metric folks; five foot six is 168 cm. Of course, depending on which conversion comes up on Google.**


	15. Chapter 14

**A/N: Sorry; no Monday two for one special. That will come tomorrow. When you read this, I'm sure you very smart readers of mine will figure out why. *laughs* However, you won't expect what you'll get. :D**

Chapter 14

"Does anyone know exactly where that shot came from," Matt said into his comm link.

"The milk house door Cob," Garnier replied, getting out of this vehicle with his assault rifle. "I saw it shut."

Cob looked at him behind them all and nodded. Morgan looked at Matt. "Cob the barn? Didn't you say there's lots of hiding places?"

Matt nodded his head. "This is his last stand Morgan; his Waterloo. He knows he's going down. He just wants to take some of us with him."

"I agree Cob," Rossi said.

"Thanks Big Dog." The rest of the team had their buy-in. Just then a window broke out from the milk house with another shot. It shattered the windshield of the Sheriff's car.

"And he's baiting us to come and find him," Rossi said. "He isn't going to run. He wants this shoot-out."

"Agreed Dave; but he doesn't have what we do." Matt spoke into his cuff. "Garnier, can you get in position to cover all those windows," Matt said, pointing to the two in the milk house and the three in the upper level of the barn. "My bet is he's going up." He pointed to the upper windows of the third story of the barn from their view, still tucked behind the cover of the Bureau SUV. Garnier nodded at him and pointed to move to the back of Morgan's vehicle parked about ten feet behind the one that Matt was driving. Matt, Morgan, Hotch and Dave leveled their side arms at the barn to cover Garnier over the tops of the SUVs, standing on the foot rails. "Go," Matt said. He moved without incident.

"He's on the move and he's probably going to the hay mow. Hotch, Morgan, you've got the two front doors of the barn with your partners." Matt's quick recon of the barn pulling in paid off. "Rossi and Reid, you've got the milk house. Pulk, you're covering Garnier's ass and my teams' as well. Morgan, from there, you've got the call with the front assault." Morgan nodded. "Mike, you and Carrie are with Blake and me to cover the back tractor entrance. Garnier, on my signal, spray the hell out of all those windows." Everyone bought in on the plan.

"Garnier, you ready," Matt asked.

"Roger Cob."

"Now," Cob said. Garnier laid down on hail of bullets from his assault rifle blowing out the all the windows as they all moved to their assignments. Pulk raced around the FBI vehicles to back Garnier.

As Garnier fired the last shot in his magazine, Pulk pulled up in front of him and unloaded his Glock. By the time he finished, Garnier was ready with his second magazine of bullets. "Clear," he said. Pulk stood down. Yet Garnier didn't fire again. Between what he and Pulk did, the teams were in place, the first six safely behind the block walls of the structure of the barn. Cob's team had the most ground to cover, going around a fence and up a little knoll to get to the backside of the barn. Garnier had his rifle aimed for any movement in the windows, with Pulk doing the same with his weapon.

"Cob," Pulk said in his comm, "I'm ready to jump."

"Roger that Pulk; move up to back Rossi and Reid. Garnier…."

"I've got them Cob with new a clip. Go Pulk." He safely moved up to back the two FBI agents.

"We're moving into position," Cob said. Standingbear moved to cover the left side of the open doorway as Cob approach the opening from the right. Matt saw Hodges flash up in the mow. Before he could shout a warning, Hodges fired a shot at Standingbear. Cob dived on top of her, firing a shot from his Glock. Alex Blake fired a single shot right behind him. Cob looked up with his weapon ready to fire again as John Hodges free fell out of the hay mow with his blood pouring out. When he hit the hay mow floor, Blake and Daniels moved up to check his pulse, Daniels clearing Hodge's weapon from his hand. Cob helped Standingbear off the ground.

"Thanks Cob, but that wasn't necessary." Daniels shook his head at the two of them.

"Blame an Irish mother and grandmother Carrie. I was raised to protect the ladies in my life." He looked at her. "I know the Dakota Sioux. We were raised the same way," he said, giving her the big ass Irish smile. "We're clear," Cob said into his comm. "Stand down; Hodges is dead."

"Well that's all well and good Cob; but shit dude, you are a load," she smiled working out some kinks. Matt smiled at her and moved up to Hodges. He took one look and then looked at Blake. While Matt had grazed him in the shoulder, Alex had taken the kill shot. "That's one helluva a shot Agent Blake." Alex had planted her single bullet precisely in the middle of Hodges' forehead.

"Thanks Cob," Alex smiled. "I owed you." Matt gave her the big ass Irish grin as well, rubbing her shoulder.

"Welcome to the team Alex." She touched his arm and smiled, with a rub.

-00CM00-

Once Hodges was dead, there was work to still be done. The farm was soon engulfed with other law enforcement agencies. The Sauk County coroner and State Crime lab people that were still in the area, taking some advice a patrolman had mentioned.

Hotch and Matt took the garage, while Rossi lead the team to cover the house. Matt noticed the keys in the ignition and shook his head. Hotch looked at him. "Another five minutes later, we would have missed him and had another body." Sheriff Daniels, tagging along with them, shook his head as well.

Hotch lifted up the hatch to truck's bed cover as Matt stuck his flashlight in. "Mike, I think the State Crime Lab needs to send more techs." Daniels moved up to look at the truck bed. He walked away, shaking his head and made the call.

Matt moved to the cab of the truck, his blue gloves on. Opening the door, he looked under the driver's seat and found nothing. Hotch opened the passenger side. Under the seat, he found a foot long piece of garden hose, filled with concrete. "Wanna bet this matches the wound patterns," Hotch said pulling it out, looking at Matt. The second discovery was bigger. It was a length of wire attached to handles on each end. Hotch looked at it. "And this will have DNA evidence."

"No bet Hotch," Matt smiled. Hotch walked out of the garage to grab the first Crime Scene tech he could find.

The tech bagged the evidence, with Hotch signing off on it. "There's more in there in the back of the truck." The tech nodded. He returned to the garage and he and Cob finished their search.

As they walked out, the rest of team came out of the house. Rossi handed a plastic evidence bag to Hotch with a single piece of paper in it. Matt looked at Dave. "His final hit list?" Dave nodded his head and he and Hotch looked. It was long and extensive. Neatly printed out the computer paper were 22 names.

"Holy shit," Matt said.

"Like you said Rossi," Emily stated, "he had a lot of time to plan."

Mike Daniels, standing with Hotch and Matt, just shook his head and looked at Hotch. "When I go to the annual association convention of sheriffs this fall I will sing your team's praises. You nailed his guy."

"Mike, we unfortunately, know these people; too well."

Sheriff Daniels stuck out his hand. "Thanks Hotch; all of you," he said looking around at Hotch's team that gathered. "You made the difference."

Matt smiled. "With all due respect Sheriff, Garnier with that assault rifle of his made the difference" he said. He shook Mike Daniels hand, and then walked towards the Bureau SUV. The team's job was done. They had garnered the evidence to support their fire fight with the suspect and proving they got the right one. They all pulled off their Kevlar, putting their vests in the back of the vehicles, and shook hands Standingbear, Garnier and Pulk with smiles.

Thirty minutes later, they walked into the Lake Delton PD building, hot, sweaty and hungry. Tim Daniels met them at the door, smiling. "Molly is waiting on all of you. Tillie called her."

Matt shook his head. "Call her back; breakfast tomorrow; we've got too much yet to do tonight, and while I can't speak for the team, I refuse to go out in public the way I smell." Dancer looked at him. "Don't get too close Tim; I reek." Dancer noticed all the shirts of the team with perspiration stains.

Rossi added a smile to Dancer. "I'm right behind him. We need to finish up here, head back to our hotel and….."

"Find a liquor store with lots of beer," Matt interjected. He got the Rossi point. "And the best pizza delivery. And then Tim, get our butts to bed."

Daniels smiled. "Parker's in Portage is the best," he smiled. They went to work on their after action reports for the shootout and started packing up for the morning. Tim Dancer stuck his head in the door to wish them a good evening.

Matt smiled at the police chief. "See you at breakfast tomorrow," he winked. "Call Clark to join us."

###

**A/N: Foot rails are built into the side of some SUV's to assist in getting into the taller vehicle. SUV's are higher off the ground then standard cars. Think back to Rossi getting into the SUV at the end of "About Face". He used the foot rail.**

**Old time Wisconsin barns were usually built into a hill. The ground floor was the milking area with the "stantions" as they were called for each cow to be milked. The milk house was on the same level. The next level was the bottom floor of the hay mow where a tractor could be driven in from the backside of knoll. The third level was the hay mow itself. Farmers would drop the bales to floor of the mow, move them to the door in the ceiling of the milking area, cut the twine and send the hay into the milking area. They used that to feed the cows; at least in my old school days on the family farm.**

**And btw, and just a fun fact: each cow, every night, coming in from the pasture from grazing for the day in the summer, or the barnyard in the winter, would go to the SAME stantion. Every time.**


	16. Chapter 15

**A/N: Sorry y'all didn't get the Monday two for one. You get the Tuesday two for one and can probably figure out why.**

Chapter 15

Hotch carried in the case of beer he had bought as the team members made their way to their rooms. Matt got them into the fridge in the little breakfast nook Dave had in his room as he showered, with Hotch in the other shower. Theirs were not the only one getting a work out. Matt pulled his smelly shirt off and stuffed it into a laundry plastic bag the hotel provided along with his t-shirt and stuck it in his suitcase. Forty five minutes later, they all were in the Three Musketeers room, drinking beer and eating pizza. Even Aaron was dressed down.

By ten-thirty, they were all conked out.

-00CM00-

The team took a leisurely early morning. The ladies enjoying the hot tub after their workout yesterday, Morgan using the weight machines the area had and the Three Musketeers swimming lazy laps. Reid, fully dressed, sat in a chair by the hot tub reading an old book of Chaucer. He'd jump into the ladies conversation every now and then.

By eight, they were on the road to Lake Delton and Molly's Place for breakfast. They walked in to see Tim Dancer and Clark Grant already sitting at the table that was put together for the group. Molly came around the counter to welcome them as they began to sit down. Matt put an arm around her shoulder. "Thanks Molly for letting us see great grandma. She held the key to this case and helped us assist these guys," he said, pointing at the two chiefs, "in getting a serial killer."

Molly beamed. "She'll be so proud when I tell her that."

Matt gave her shoulder a little extra hug. "Btw, congrats; Tillie spilled the beans. She's super excited about becoming a great, great grandma," he sincerely smiled.

Tim looked at her with a broad smile. "Molly, you've been holding out on us? Congratulations!" Clark and the rest joined into the well wishes.

JJ smiled at her. "Great grandma had an enormous grin when she told us."

"Kent and I just found out last week," she blushed with a smile. Since the restaurant was busy, Molly waited on the group so her two other servers could take care of the rest of the customers.

Once she put in their order, she came back to the table and filled coffees. She smiled at Matt. "I noticed the wedding ring. Do you have kids Agent?"

Matt smiled. "First off Molly, I'm off duty. I'm Matt; and yes," he said, reaching for his wallet, "my wife and I have three." He proudly showed off the latest picture of he and Abbey's growing brood of children.

Molly smiled her appreciation at the picture as did Tim and Clark. "I'm not the only parent," he smiled. JJ and Hotch each proudly produced pictures of their sons.

"Only one girl in the bunch," Molly questioned.

Emily rolled her eyes. "It's the BAU." Alex looked at her. "Look around Alex," she smiled. "Hotch is going to have a son; the Irishman with multiple kids, is going to have the only daddy's girl. It's testosterone city."

"And JJ," Alex asked.

"You don't know her nickname yet," Emily asked, pointing at Morgan.

"Mama LaMontagne is Pennsylvania Petite," he broadly smiled at Alex. "She can give an ass whoopin'," he beamed.

"And can take it just about as much as what she gave out," Reid smiled proudly. Rossi, Matt and Hotch smiled their quiet pride as well, taking another sip of their coffee.

Molly and the rest roared with laughter. Five minutes later, Molly and one of their servers brought their breakfast order. They all ate heartily.

When they finished, Molly brought the bill to the two police chiefs. Clark Grant smiled at the team. "This is on us."

"I'm sorry guys; Bureau rules don't allow that," Hotch said with a smile.

Tim Dancer looked him in the eye. "Screw Bureau rules." Matt smiled at Hotch and pointed at Dancer.

"We've got the tip Tim," Dave said, pulling out his money clip. Matt and Hotch pulled out their wallets as well. The mom-to-be made a nifty sum with her tip.

They all returned to the Lake Delton PD and the team finished their packing. Tim helped the team pack up their vehicles, getting a couple of his officers to assist. Clark Grant, after shaking every team member's hand, helped out as well.

The two police chiefs shook their heads. Clark spoke up. "We had a problem, called the FBI, you all came running." Looking at Tim, he shook his head. "We can't thank you enough."

Matt pointed at Jayje. "Your line Mrs. La Montagne," he smiled. Clark and Tim looked at her.

"The BAU is an asset to all levels of law enforcement. We are happy to assist you." Matt smiled at Hotch. While JJ was now a full time profiler, she still had her liaison skills.

Grant looked at all of them. "And I've got a message from Dylan to pass along. He thanks you as well. He and his finance are getting married this weekend. He's a little heads down in another project right now," he slyly smiled.

Matt smiled at Hotch. "Been there; done that," Hotch smiled.

Morgan, Emily and JJ gave Dave an evil grin, which Grant and Dance noticed. Matt held up three fingers to the two of them, shaking his head. The two police chiefs laughed.

"Morgan, what do you say about paybacks?"

"They're a bitch Rossi."

"And I've got money; lots of it. Mine are over the top," Dave evilly grinned. They all laughed as Jess Hardin walked up.

"Let me add to the parade," she smiled.

"Not necessary, Lt. Hardin," Hotch smiled. "We're just glad you and Lt. Meier convinced your chiefs to get us here. You two deserve the credit. We were just doing our jobs." He and Hardin shared a handshake.

"With a 103 year old woman giving us the break we needed," Matt observed with a smile. He shook her hand as well. The team got in their vehicles waving to the officers they had just assisted as they pulled out of the Lake Delton PD parking lot and made their way to I-94.

Dave and Hotch were in the same SUV, with Matt driving. They were all quiet as Matt eased the vehicle into the traffic. Dave, sitting in the back seat, looked into the rearview mirror at Matt, with a smile. "You know we all have to make one more stop."

"I was thinking the same thing Rossi," he smiled, looking in the mirror at him.

Hotch looked at the two of them and then smiled. "I know where you're going guys; great call."

As they reached Portage, Matt signaled a right turn off the freeway. Morgan had Emily call Hotch, who immediately put in on speaker. "Cob, what the hell?"

"D, we've got the time. I told Chuck and Angie we don't leave before noon. That gives the Chicago office guys' time, without traffic, to pick up the vehicles. And we owe someone."

"Yes we do Morgan," Dave smiled in the backseat. Dave's cell rang with a call from JJ in the third FBI vehicle with Reid.

"Dave, please tell me…."

Dave smiled. "You know better JJ." She looked at Spence with a large grin.

Matt led them to the parking lot of the Portage nursing home. They all walked in with Morgan and Matt holding the doors for the rest. JJ, the first in, nodded at the same day duty nurse with a smile. "Can you help us out in a couple of minutes?" The nurse smiled and they silently made their way down to Tillie's room.

"Hi Tillie," JJ said. "Remember Matt and me telling you that our team needed your help?"

"Agent Jareau, it's my hip that's screwed up, not my brain."

Hotch smiled at her, bending down to rub her left forearm. "Mrs. Blanched, I'm Aaron Hotchner; the head of this FBI team. We all just wanted to stop in on our way to the Madison airport to thank you for your assistance."

Matt knelt down beside her wheelchair and kissed her cheek. "Tillie, you helped us catch the bad guy," he said, rubbing her shoulder.

She smiled at Matt with her bright, clear blue eyes. "What I told you helped? I've been reading the news coverage in the Madison paper."

Morgan knelt in front of her. "Yes ma'am," he smiled. "Thanks to your help, we caught the bad man." Rossi, standing behind JJ, rubbed her shoulder as well.

"Tillie, I taught some of these kids what they know," Rossi smiled at her. "You were simply huge." Tillie Blanchard beamed. The rest of the team took their time to talk with her. The day nurse walked in and the team gathered around Tillie as the nurse took a picture of the team gathered around her on JJ's phone.

As they walked back to their vehicles, Dave smiled at Hotch and Matt. "This, gentlemen, is why we do this. For days like this."

###


	17. Epilogue

Epilogue

Two days later, Tillie Blanchard received an overnight delivery from FedEx. In it was a framed 8x10 photo of her with the team. With the picture was a beautiful Hallmark thank you card the team had all had signed. JJ bought the card, Emily the frame, and Garcia made the picture, which Morgan picked up at the PhotoShop and paid for; Matt took care of the rest with Blake, Hotch and Dave kicking in on his cost.

The next Monday, as the team met to do their usual 10 am brief, Matt Taylor walked in last and pulled a newspaper out of FedEx envelope. He gently tossed it onto the top of the Round Table Room working surface with a huge smile. He handed the envelope to Hotch to look at the return address. Hotch grinned as well. Tim Dancer had sent it.

The team looked at the front page of the _Portage Press_ with its banner 72 point headline.

_Local Centenarian Assists FBI._

The picture of the team with her was there as well.

Garcia smiled at them. "That reporter was nice."

Matt pointed at her, sitting down. "Boom Garcia," he deeply smiled. The rest smiled as well.

Dave rubbed Hotch's shoulder. "We do win most times Aaron. You gotta like that."

Hotch smiled at him and Matt. "You know I do," he softly said. "That's why I appreciate this team and everything we all sacrifice to get the job done."

He took the time to look at the headline with a smile and then looked around the table.

"Let's get started," he said in his official Hotch voice.

###

**A/N: Sorry, old newspaper reporter has to explain. A 72 point banner headline for a paper is just about as big as they go. In all my years, even away from being a reporter, I've only saw one bigger. That was 9/11. **

**While I silently cursed (with luvs) my Spanish Sparkplug in my usual middle of writing story doldrums, I have to give her the biggest shout out. She pushed me to do this, which I said at the top, is not my comfort zone. I like happy stories! Yet, while I cursed and fought through this, I'm sorta proud of how it turned out. Thanks luvs! I really hope I did it right for you.**

**All of my loyal readers know the rest: but as an FF author, you hope for new readers. My deepest and sincerest thanks goes to my girls and Falc, again, at CM Rev; all my Tweet peeps, especially my wonderful Euros; my 'Sconnie sister hxchick and the OK teacher. Much luvs and hugs to you all for once again getting me through this process and supporting me.**

**An extra shout out to my Dutch Delight! She kept me sane and buffered me from my Spanish Sparkplug when I was struggling. Luvs and hugs my friend!**

***Knightly bow***

**To you newcomers: that is to my FF mentor Thn0715. THE Jedi Knight of FF!**


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